Bitter Sweet Tooth
by LylicaGalatea
Summary: Will Allen's dessert make Kanda moan? Can Kanda drink alcohol? Will he kill Allen? Or maybe the evening will take an unexpected turn? What about "the morning after"? Mouth watering and funny start. Serious, thick plot afterwards - Very graphic AreKan
1. Chapter 1

**Right... I told you I was going to put up another story as soon as I got back from my holidays. This one is another Yullen. Less serious than Shattering Mistake, and much more funnier... also... much more mouth watering! Don't worry though, your dose of graphic sexual scenes is already under way :D**

**Only thing... Kanda is going to be uke... don't flame me until you've read it!**

* * *

Lavi and Allen were in the cafeteria, each busy with the last bites of their own meal. Allen had seconds of everything, from pasta to roasted chicken and was munching on a buttered bun, eyes fluttering closed at the sweet taste and moaning an appreciative purr.

It was quite dizzying to see Allen savour something ever so slowly, he who could shove a turkey down his throat in three bites. His moan was embarrassing Lavi to no end, his mind stunned by such a sexy show.

"_It's just a buttered brioche damn it. Do you _have_ to make it sound like you're coming in your pants?"_

And he tried to make the boy stop his sound: "Hey Allen, I didn't know you liked sweets."

"Uhm, I don't usually eat them because I need to feed my Innocence with proteins and carbohydrates so all I ever eat is meat and bread. I also eat vegetables and fruits to get vitamins and that doesn't leave much space to fit desserts in my meals. But I do love them, and when I'm not on a mission I try to eat some once in a while…"

"Eeh, I didn't know you have a list of food to follow!"

"Yeah, you know, my arm takes a lot of energy, and proteins and carbs are essential."

"I see… so what dessert do you like best?"

"Oh if I could ever choose I'd eat triple hazelnut and raspberry fudge cake with a looot of whipped cream on top! It's so rich and buttery, and moist too! First you are kissed by the fluffy goodness of the whipped cream, then you bite the crunchy outer layer of chocolate and your teeth sink into the moist chocolate cake, and then into the layer of hazelnut and raspberry spreads. It's so good I…"

"Allen! Allen! You're drooling!"

"Oh! Sorry! I… it's been so long I last ate it…"

"That's the weirdest fudge cake I've ever heard of by the way."

Allen chuckled before answering: "That's the special fudge cake recipe I created."

"What? You invented it? When? How? I mean… huh?!"

A gloomy look descended on Allen's eyes: "Well, I once had to work in a French patisserie for six months to repay the debts of my master… But in the end it wasn't half bad, I learnt a lot about French patisserie! And I got to eat a lot of it for free to!"

"Ooh! So you can cook cakes and desserts! God Allen! You should have told us sooner!"

"Eheh, I'm sorry Lavi, it just didn't come up."

"You MUST cook something for us! We'll throw a party!"

"Oh, I'm not sure Jerry would like me to take his place in the kitchen…"

"Oh, right. Well, we'll do something small then. We can have Lenalee, Krory, Miranda, Marie and Kanda! No wait… Kanda doesn't like sweets… he'd kill us if we made him eat cake."

"Mmm I'm not sure about that." It was more of a whisper but Lavi's trained ears got it with no problem.

"What, what? What do you mean?"

So what was left for Allen was to explain. "Well, it' s like fish."

"Huh?"

"Some people say they don't like fish. Period. But that's not true. They may not like seafood, or fish with too many bones… but usually it is just a matter of finding a _type_ of fish or a way of cooking it, and they'll eat it and lick their lips. Most people like salmon, or tuna. Still they say they don't like fish."

"Well they say salmon and tuna _don't taste_ like fish. It's more like meat, plus they don't have annoying little bones."

"Well as for sweets, there are sweets that are not sweet."

Lavi blinked. "Come again?"

"Not all desserts have to be overly sweet. And there's one thing I believe would make Kanda _moan_."

Lavi was bewildered. "No fucking way. What is it?"

"Well… it's… special. My special cake of bitter chocolate."

"_Bitter_ chocolate? That doesn't sound good…"

Allen leaned closer to Lavi, eyes sparkling maliciously. "It's just like sex."

Lavi's jaw dropped slightly _"Who is this Allen moaning and talking about sex!"_ He blinked, and Allen continued, almost murmuring:

"It's just a question of finding the right strings to pull. Everyone has a more sensitive spot… that when touched, or rubbed, or _licked_ will send him rocketing around the moon. You find that thing that makes him scream and he'll be at your mercy… even begging for more."

Lavi was having difficulties at swallowing. But Allen went on, merciless, and ever closer to Lavi's ear.

"And during sex some things that normally you don't like are just what will make you loose control over your body and mind. Some people like being talked dirty… some others like to be smacked… You want to know my favourite?"

Lavi nodded twice without even blinking, staring with wide eyes into nothing.

"Back biting. Normally I'd punch back at being bitten… but if I'm bitten on my back and shoulder blades during sex… well just that can bring me over the edge in an instant."

Lavi had stopped breathing altogether and his only thought was: _"Back biting… how would he be bitten on his back if he is fucking a gi… ooh!"_

Yeah, Lavi. Not a girl…

He was definitely intrigued now.

But Allen didn't seem to want to stop and Lavi couldn't stop listening either, hypnotised by this unknown sexy Allen.

"You see, bitter food is not usually loved, but bitter chocolate, if you are the right person, will give you just the right combination of sweetness and bitterness. And you'll keep wanting more because the taste changes as the tongue rolls it in the mouth and all of the taste buds are solicited. It is a whole new sensation… and Kanda is just the right person… he would appreciate the sweet melting butter and the bitter saltiness in the taste. Plus my spicy secret ingredient would shock him pleasantly… Believe me… he'd moan."

Allen drew back, a devilish grin still changing his usually polite features, and it took a moment for Lavi to stutter:

"It sounds _perfect_ for him. You've got to cook it."

Allen suddenly blushed. He got carried away with the description but he never meant to cook it for Kanda: "No, wait!"

"What _no_? You've got to! I can't _wait_ to see Kanda moan!"

"No! It also depends on _how_ you feed him the cake… it's also a question of atmosphere! Tasting and savouring something is not shoving it in your mouth and gulp it down!"

"Well…" Lavi's demonic mind was already at work "I'll think of something…"

* * *

**So, are you interested?**

**There's actually an alternate version I'll be working on, making the sex scene reversed with Kanda as the seme. I'll see how it works out and I'll upload it for you to read. Right now though, the story will continue as I stated at the beginning.**

**Wanna know what happens next?  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow thanks **for the great response!

The story is quite challenging though, because I don't know where it is leading me... I'm still deciding if to turn it into a long story with more serious emotions or leaving it at the funny evening. Mmm...

**Most importantly:** I'll be referring to Japanese customs and using a couple of jap words. I'm in no way expert so if you think something is off please tell me and I'll change it. Thanks :)

* * *

_8:00 pm_

Lavi has kept his word, that's why Kanda is now standing in front of Allen's room, a frown on his face and a bit annoyed at himself for having accepted Lavi's bargain.

"_I go in, I eat the damn thing and then go out. I still don't get why it has to be _me_ to help Moyashi with his training, but Lavi is going to stop pestering me for a month if I do, so it's all worth it."_

He shakes his shoulders and slowly rolls his neck, trying to loose some tension. Then he sighs and knocks.

"Ohei Moyashi, open up. It's Kanda."

--

_Same day, 10 hours before._

"Whaaaat?"

Lavi's grin was seriously going to split his face in two, and the more Allen's jaw dropped, the more his grin widened.

"Are you serious, Lavi? You got Kanda to accept to taste my dessert?"

"Well, yeah! I told you I'd think of something!"

"But… how?"

"Gneheheh! I've got my secrets! By the way, he said this evening."

Allen was still struggling with the news but it soon sank in and he felt like panicking again a bit:

"Whaaat?! Oh God! _This_ evening?! It's too sudden! I've still got to personalize it!"

"Well get on with it! You said you were free from missions for a while, didn't you?"

And so Allen again found himself inside a kitchen, melting chocolate, mixing butter, sugar and spices, crumbling cookies and filling the air with delicious aromas. Jerry hadn't been happy at first to let someone else touch his precious kitchen but Allen was his favourite customer and in the end he even stood by, in case he needed any help.

It took him the whole day to finally think of the perfect dessert designed just for Kanda. He started thinking about the Japanese, about his personality and what type of dessert would match it. He knew he wanted something bitter and hard on the outside, but a sweeter, mellower centre with a touch of spice. He didn't want anything complex nor too messy to eat. And nothing too flashy, elegance was a must. He tried several different versions that didn't convince him: they either were too sweet or too bitter, too big or too difficult to eat, but in the end they were just not good enough.

The idea of feeding sweets to Kanda made him unsure and, yes, scared too.

"_Everything must be perfect. Everything. I can't fuck anything up."_

So he kept on cooking and cooking until he wasn't completely satisfied with the result and went back to his room to set the atmosphere.

He wasn't really sure on what he wanted to achieve but he figured that to make Kanda _moan_ he would have to go out all the way.

After dinner, when everything was ready he stood by his door to check everything one last time. He then instructed Timcanpy on where to hide to record the evening since Lavi was going to need proof that Kanda actually moaned. And after the shower, when he finally sat on his bed he didn't have to wait long before a knock on the door preceded Kanda's muffled voice:

"Ohei Moyashi, open up. It's Kanda."

--

_8:00 pm, again._

Allen's heart jumps in his throat, making the usually simple task of swallowing surprisingly difficult. He feels blood rushing up his neck and a whistle in his ears that confirms he's blushing. He stands up, not wanting Kanda to wait any longer and opens the door, smiling nervously at the scary Japanese.

Before he can open his mouth to say anything Kanda raises one hand, making him stop.

"I hate being here. I hate sweets. I hate them even more if they are cooked by you."

He snorts, and then adds:

"Just so you know what to expect."

Not that Allen had any hope that Kanda would be collaborative but the harsh preamble crushes his high spirit. He would gladly slam the door on Kanda's nose but he remembers Lavi will be watching Timcanpy's video and he forces himself to be nice. So he smiles.

"I know Kanda, I wasn't expecting any less from you. Thanks for being here."

He steps aside and lets Kanda in his room, but the Japanese freezes just as soon as he takes a look at the room.

"What the hell is this Moyashi?"

"Oh, ehm… atmosphere?" He grins stupidly and Kanda glares at him frowning as he turns to go away, but Allen stops him.

"No, Kanda, sorry. But it is important. I need to be able to read other people's tastes and I thought that this would make you feel more comfortable. Have I… done wrong?"

He's more timid now, he really tried to make it better for Kanda. It would be a big failure if he couldn't even manage to at least make him sit down.

Kanda turns back to stare at the room, still frowning.

Allen has pushed his furniture to one wall and has brought in a couple of bamboo room dividers to hide it. He has hung a wide roll on another wall that depicts a pond gently brushed by the dangling branches of a weeping willow, and has covered the other two walls with white canvases framed by bamboo sticks. The floor is covered by a light mat on which Allen has placed a low wooden table and a couple of cushions. On the dark surface of the table are a ceramic bottle and a white cup, sided by a pair of chopsticks.

It doesn't exactly achieve Japanese style, but for a room in a stone building it is quite reminiscing of… home.

"Pitiful attempt."

Allen's eye twitch and his smile stiffens in an unnatural mask, but he sighs when Kanda steps into the room and closes the door.

"_I guess that's the warmest compliment I could expect for my efforts."_

And indeed Kanda accepts the transformation of the room, playing along by taking his boots off before stepping on the mat and kneeling on one of the cushions.

"So if this is supposed to be a Japanese restaurant, why aren't you wearing a yukata_… oneesan_?" (1)

Allen stops in mid step. He blinks trying to understand what has just been said. It's not that he doesn't understand the words, he knows a _tiny_ bit of Japanese, enough to understand the literal meaning of the sentence… but he doesn't really get… the tone.

He turns to look at Kanda and his lips part slightly.

One corner of Kanda's mouth is bent upwards in a crooked smile and his eyes are glittering maliciously…

"_What… wha… Eeeh?"_

Oh God Kanda has cracked a joke?! Apocalypse!

"_You wanna play dirty Kanda? Tsk! I'm Cross' apprentice! You can't beat me at this!"_

So he smiles matching Kanda's malicious expression and says:

"Would you be more comfortable if I changed into female clothes?"

He casually licks his lips as he kneels down, reaching Kanda's lap on his four, and he adds, lowering his voice:

"I can do that if you want… but I probably would just find the ones of a European waitress, you know… puffy white sleeves…_ very_ short black dress… "

And he wears an alluring smile before actually understanding that his playing along with Kanda's teasing has gone a bit over the edge and that he is now hitting on the deadliest Exorcist of the Order!

Kanda is looking at him with a puzzled look, clearly trying not to kill him not to prove he can't play the game he himself has started… but the boy is acting far too sexy, he had expected an usual insult, not this purring kitty on his four whispering about sexy outfits in his ear!

He freezes on the spot, tilting his head slightly backwards to keep a distance from Allen without showing his stupor and watches as the boy realises he has acted all sexy with him and blushes fiercely straightening himself up in a hurry. Allen sits back on his heels on the cushion, as far from Kanda as he can and clears his throat, evidently embarrassed by the too intimate way in which he has acted.

"_What the hell got into me? I just wanted to reply something to his joke… how did I end up on his lap? And why am I still alive?!"_

Kanda is both amused and annoyed by Allen's behaviour, the boy was far too close to him but the way he blushed and retreated fearing for his life was damn hilarious. So he keeps teasing him, curious to see how far Allen can push it again before realising it.

"Don't make your customer wait, _oneesan_."

Allen opens his mouth to reply something rude at being teased again but his mind stops suggesting words when he sees in Kanda's laughing eyes that he is actually enjoying the moment. He can't believe he is making Kanda _enjoy_ some moments with him!

So he decides he'll play along.

"I'm sorry, _master_." He stresses the last word with an oblique smile and a deep, meaningful look into Kanda's eyes.

Allen leans on the table reaching for the bottle, then he pours some of the liquid into the cup. He then stands up and disappears behind one of the dividers.

Kanda smirks when Allen can't see him, if he were a person that asks himself questions about his own behaviour he would want to know _why_ he is enjoying this situation, the hate for sweets almost forgotten and a ting in his abdomen when Allen called him master. But he is not that kind of person, so he just goes along with his amusement and tries to imagine that room to really be a Japanese one.

As he waits for Allen to come back he takes a sip of the liquid and almost chokes. He looks with horror at the cup which he thought contained tea and tries to breath without coughing or spitting.

"_Sake? What the hell?"_

Well yeah, Kanda is Japanese but he is barely 18 and besides he is obsessed with his body being a temple, healthy mind, healthy body and all this shit… he never, ever, drinks alcohol. Not that he doesn't like it, but it is a poison that numbs your mind and body, and he is a fighter, he needs to always be ready and his mind be clear. He despises Cross for treating his body in such a disrespectful way and wouldn't trust him with his life during a fight since he is always drunk.

He stares at the cup for a moment then his eyes follow the sounds coming from behind the divider and he debates whether to kill Allen and go away or stay.

He would hate it for the Moyashi to think that a bit of alcohol would make him back off so he accepts the challenge and decides he will show Allen how he can drink when he wants to.

Which is never, but Allen doesn't need to know.

Allen appearing from behind the divider shakes him from his thoughts and with a determined look on his face he gulps down all the sake in the cup, containing the hiss at the stinging feeling in his throat and stomach.

Allen is quite surprised to see Kanda drink the sake so quickly but he smiles thinking that then he has made the right choice to go with sake instead of tea. He is sure the sweet but stingy taste of the drink will bring out the sake drops he has added to the cake better than bitter tea.

He kneels down smiling, and he sets a rectangular plate in front of Kanda.

"Sorry for the wait, _master._"

* * *

**(1)** So I did check on an online Eng-Jap dictionary for this. If I got it right you can call a waitress oneesan. So, yeah, not only Kanda is implying Allen is the waiter, but that he is a wait_ress_. With all the consequent sexy implications... maids, servants... ask any boy and they'll drool :p

So, the poll is open... from the way things are going and from the things I have said before... do you think Kanda will be **uke or seme**?

Don't get too excited though, you'll need to wait a couple of more chaps before the response :D


	3. Chapter 3

It was so fun to read all your answers to the **poll**! Still in **this chap it is unclear** what Kanda will be... -evil laugh-

But you will **see what the dessert is and Kanda gets to take a first bite**! (Just to explain, the dessert is my own recipe, you won't find it anywhere :D )

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Allen smiles very nervously while Kanda takes a look at his dish, and when the Japanese's lips show a disgusted frown he stands up, deciding that he needs some alcohol too if he wants to keep calm without talking back to Kanda and end up fighting.

"_Geez, he hasn't even looked at it and he already hates it. And I even tried to make it look appealing."_

Because yes, Allen has made his cake into a Japanese looking dish.

On the rectangular dish are 3 cubes the size of two medium bites each, each of them shining with a smooth layer of dark chocolate. On the side of each cube is a tiny shallow cup, one contains a light yellow syrup, the second a grey powder and the third one a green cream.

He wasn't trying to make it look like sushi, but he figured that being able to use chopsticks and having something to dip the cake in would make Kanda eat it more comfortably. And there he is, already looking disgusted!

Allen really needs a drink. So he takes a cup and the second bottle from behind the divider and kneels back on the cushion, absentmindedly noting how uncomfortable that position is.

"Do you see anything you like, _master_?"

He whispers, trying to distract Kanda from feeling disgusted by continuing the teasing game they have started. He wonders what joke Lavi will make seeing them playing a game with so clear sexual implications and still not killing each other. Ah, the power of pride! Kanda has really made a mistake, he will never back out of a game he has started but he should have never played it with Cross' apprentice!

Still Allen can't really push it too far, Kanda could snap and kill him for the same pride that is now keeping him there.

At his words Kanda turns to look at him with the frown still on his face but then he blinks seeing that Allen still manages to sound intentionally sexy while putting on the usually most naïve puppy eyes look. Actually it's the combination of innocent looks and dirty implications in his words that make him look so incredibly sexy.

"_Holy crap he's good at this. Where the hell has that bastard Cross made him grow up?!"_

He smiles a challenging look and says:

"You shouldn't leave my cup empty, _oneesan_."

"I'm sorry, _my master_."

Allen leans on the table once more to fill Kanda's cup and he feels a warm feeling creeping up his back to his neck. It is so exciting to tease Kanda, it's a dangerous game and the more he pushes it the more he enjoys it. His life is at stake because with Kanda there's no doubt that it is his life to be at risk, still he can't stop pushing. It's a gamble, just like poker, and he loves poker. Besides, he never looses at poker, so he's not going to loose here either.

"_Although, this is an entirely different game… one I've never played…"_

He plays the submissive servant but he knows he's the one to have the upper hand on the game. He fills his own cup and takes a sip eyeing Kanda under his lashes. He almost chokes, not for the liquor, but because he catches Kanda eyeing him back, eyes locking on each other's gaze. They look at each other straight in the eye, something that never happens.

"_Shit. What the hell is going on?"_

His confidence shakes a little but he feels so much more excited. Kanda isn't easily toyed with. Danger in gambling, in fighting… Allen loves it, he has never backed out, and here his opponent is the sexiest and most dangerous Exorcist, and he is making him play along, he is also making him steal a look at himself! He's enjoying this, all the much more because he would have never imagined it to go this way.

He refills Kanda's cup and his own and then very slowly blinks at Kanda, smiling another innocent smile.

"If my master is unsure on how to eat it, would he prefer me to feed him?"

"_HELL NO!"_ "No, just tell me what these are, oneesan."

Kanda tries to stay calm, but the truth is that Allen's game is upsetting him. But not in a negative way at all, and that's what confuses him. It's such a new experience, and to play it with Allen of all the people in the world makes him feel nervous. But he can recognise the sting in his abdomen, it is the same excitement he feels when he starts a figth with a new opponent that he doesn't know. He feels Allen is more skilled at this and he doesn't want to show any openings, but his refusal to Allen's offer make the British boy smirk, as if he has just found one of his weak spots and scored a point.

"As my master wishes."

And after a moment in which Allen keeps his smirk on studying Kanda he continues. "Each of the cubes is slightly differently flavoured, although the basic recipe is the same. The side dip is each one's unique flavour. I would suggest my master to eat them in order to savour all the differences but he is free to taste them as he prefers."

"What are the flavours?"

"I'd rather not say... Buy maybe after my master has finished the dessert I might decide to reveal my secret… depending on how he asks."

"Ask, oneesan? A master shouldn't need to ask. But I can think of ways to force you to tell me, if that's what you want from me."

Kanda grins maliciously, and Allen puts on his most innocent look before dropping the bomb.

"You are right, my master. You shouldn't ask, I'm sorry. But if you'd enjoy forcing me, then… I'll do anything to please you, my master."_ "Holy shit what the hell am I saying?"_

The atmosphere is definitely heating up. None of them understands it is the alcohol that makes them more daring and less inhibited, because they still are feeling pretty fine and the subtle effect of the sake passes almost undetected.

"You better, oneesan."

Even Kanda is surprised of how much he's enjoying this game. He had never thought of how sexy Allen could be, and he's sure he would have puked if anyone had told him about this earlier that day, but now that he is stuck in this game he is actually enjoying it. Not to mention his intestines twisting in cramps every time Allen suggests anything dirty with that innocent look on his face. He finds himself wondering how innocent would he truly be in bed, if he is submissive and slightly maso or a perverted tiger, but he is not drunk enough to completely appreciate that thought so he shudders, trying to concentrate on the dessert.

Using the chopsticks he picks the first cube, dipping it in the syrup.

He then bites it, ready to spit it.

His teeth crack the thin layer of chocolate, but the first savour his tongue meets is the alcoholic syrup, a concentrate of sake that activates his sweet and salt spots on his tongue, making his mouth immediately water in response.

His lower teeth sink in a crumbling salty biscuit, much like Scottish butter shortbread, while his upper teeth bite through a soft, rich chocolate sponge, so moist that he feels like biting dough.

And when his teeth meet he feels them cut through a thin layer of cream.

He closes his lips, adjusting the bite under his teeth, and starts munching feeling the carefully chosen tastes unravel on his tongue.

After the bright alcoholic sake syrup the chocolate surfaces in his mouth, and it tastes like unsweetened cocoa, dark and deep and it stings the sides at the back of his tongue. Then the butter melts in the warmth of his mouth easing the salty alcohol of the sake and the bitter sting of the chocolate together. He feels buttery crumbs and splinters of chocolate melt on the tip of his tongue, and the deep rich flavour of bitter chocolate mingle with the alcoholic cream, evaporating in his breath and invading his mouth.

He blinks, vanquished by the powerful taste of unsweetened chocolate and rolls the buttery bite in his mouth, feeling its different textures on his tongue and roof and soliciting deeper tastes by warming it.

When he finally swallows he finds Allen offering him the cup of sake. He takes it, trusting Allen's expertise and the sip of liquor makes all of the tastes evaporate in his mouth again, conquering his throat and nose, filling his mouth with the fumes of salty-sweet sake.

He swallows the liquor and stares at Allen, shocked by having been won over by his dessert at first bite, unable to speak.

Allen's smile grows into a wide grin when he sees Kanda's eyes staring silently at him and he slowly nods.

He nailed it!

Kanda tries to whisper some questions but he only manages to breath out a "How…"

So Allen leans on his elbows on the table, closing in to Kanda and starts talking with a low warm voice.

"Keep eating…_master._"

* * *

**I'm sorry if this chap leaves you with a big cliffy but I couldn't have a 5000 words chap!! But I'm sure you too need a pause to resettle your emotions...**

Now, about the future of this fic.

I tried. I tried to make it end soon, because I just wanted something funny and hot, I had this idea of dessert and didn't mean to write a longer fic. But thing is, I can't. I am not going to explain now why because I don't want to give spoilers so I'll tell you in a couple of chaps in more details. Just wanted to warn you that** this story is leading me to a more complex plot without my consent**. Maybe most of you started to read this thinking about a crackish one shot (which was my intention at first) but **the plot is evolving on its own and I can't just ignore it.**

So, more of this to come, much more of this! Slowly though, because it is hard to write well when you are not planning in advance and I fear it would come up a shallow, not credible story. **Are you happy or disappointed?**


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks again for the wonderful reviews, I am flattered by your comments. And I'm glad none of you thinks that I should end the story quickly. I promise, I won't rush things and I won't force them. I wouldn't be happy with a bad story either :)

Now, **Enjoy!**

* * *

Kanda dips the remaining bite of the first cube in the syrup, experiencing the same gorgeous tastes and textures again.

"I made this thinking of you."

Allen leans over and picks a splinter of chocolate fallen from the cube with the tip of his index finger. He brings it to his mouth, sucking it and smiling at the staring Kanda. He motions Kanda to eat and then keeps talking:

"Outside, you are strong and your shield is sturdy, you are bitter and with no cracks. You are perfect like a small cube, and the bitter chocolate covering it stands for the way you act. It puts lots of people off, and you look impenetrable."

He stops as Kanda finishes chewing the first cube and is staring at him with a confused look. They drink their cups of sake and Allen pours a couple of drops on the grey powder in the second side dish. It is not enough to make a pulp but it makes the powder stick to the second cube as Kanda dips it. Before resuming with his explanation Allen watches as Kanda's closed eyes twitch at the new taste.

It's mildly spicy, strongly aromatic. It's white pepper. It's not hot, it doesn't burn the tongue but it heats it making it more sensitive to the bitterness of the chocolate. Kanda has heard of chocolate with chilli, but he had never heard of white pepper in it. It gives it a sweetly spicy heat that he finds again in the central cream, where tiny crunchy bits of pepper await his teeth. It's more aromatic than the first cube, less alcoholic and fuming, but as his tongue rolls the spicy powder into the buttery crumbles he feels his mouth water. As his teeth grind the tiny bits of pepper the aroma spreads again, mingling with the butter. He stops only to drink a sip of sake and he opens his eyes when the spicy aftertaste is heated by the alcohol and the aroma of white pepper fills his mouth with his breath.

"_Damn…"_ He sighs, taking a sip of sake but doesn't wait any longer before finishing up the second cube. He's nearly unaware of Allen beside him for he is ravished by the white pepper.

Allen is satisfied. He can see Kanda's cheeks flushed and his back slightly hunched over as if he can't really control his body much. He has sighed, it's the first time Allen has heard Kanda sigh and it sends a shiver down his spine. But it is not a moan and he knows Lavi will not settle for this.

He rests his chin on the palm of his hand and starts murmuring again, observing Kanda's fogged gaze.

"What comes afterwards is a butter shortbread and a bitter chocolate sponge. Because when you care about someone your defences crumble and you envelop them protecting them. You show a mellow part of your soul but you can still sting if you feel threatened. You are a complex combination of sweetness and bitterness, crumbling shields and soft sponges but once in a while salty and stingy tastes remind people who they are dealing with.

Your heart then is soft and when you let someone touch it they are left dizzy and they feel special, warmed up and dangerously addicted as if they were drinking alcohol."

Allen hadn't really planned on telling Kanda what he had thought about while making the dessert but he really needs his approval now. He really needs to see that he had read Kanda deeply, that he is close to him and that he is the only one to know how sweet he can be. Besides, he's been drinking without eating, so his sense of danger has slowly shut down and he doesn't realise how dangerous it is to talk to Kanda of how deeply he cares about his friends. Luckily for him Kanda is too shocked and busy with his new passion for this dessert and the sake he's been drinking has intoxicated him quickly since his body isn't used to process it, so he isn't really paying much attention to the boy's murmurs.

"_White pepper… why don't I have it in my meals?"_

He empties his cup again and Allen automatically fills it up. They exchange a silent look while Kanda pauses to breathe and savour the remaining taste in his mouth. He moves on to the third cube and dips it in the green cream.

He bites down on the cake enjoying the now familiar cracking and crumbling textures, but then he freezes as his tongue registers the taste of the green cream and his eyes shoot open. His hand remains still in mid air and as he frowns surprised a very deep sigh escapes his throat… so deep it actually resounds as a groany moan.

Allen's jaw drops open and the hand supporting his chin bangs down on the table. Kanda is startled by his reaction and eyes him worried but he is too busy containing his shock to pay much more attention to Allen.

"_Wa… wasabi?!"_

"_Yes! He did! He fucking moaned!"_

Kanda starts chewing on the bite, feeling the tip of his tongue rage in fire and his nose sear open. He loves wasabi but he wasn't expecting to taste it here so he is really stunned at how powerful it feels in his mouth. His eyes water and he is ready to leave the last bite on the dish when the searing heat of the wasabi wears off and its clearing capacities leave his tongue and mouth to taste the chocolate and butter with a renewed sensitivity.

It feels like tasting the first cube over again, with no other tastes lingering on his tongue and his nose ever more sensitive to the subtle aftertastes.

He decides this mind blowing bite was the best of all and he gulps down the sake in his cup slightly flinching when the alcohol hits the already burning tongue.

The cup of sake is really one too much, and he finally looses control of his mind and body, feeling like time slows down and the room fills with water. His movements feel slow and heavy and he has to blink the dizzying unbalanced feeling out of his head when he turns to look at Allen after succesfully guiding the remaining piece of cake to his mouth.

Allen watches Kanda loose it munching on the last bite of his dessert. He feels his head light and an uncontrollable urge to burst out laughing, but he strangely can't get his body to laugh, and he feels paralysed as if he were dumped into a giant jelly jar. He mentally laughs at the image and feels his victory needs a toast.

He empties the last bottle in his and Kanda's cups and when the Japanese is done munching and moaning they crash the cups together with a bit too much strength and then gulp the sake down.

* * *

I knooow, you hate me because I've stopped the chapter just at the start of the _action_! But **I wanted to separate the eating the dessert from the... eating Kanda** ;)

White pepper dark chocolate exists, it is indeed my favourite of all and I think it is far better than chilli choco :p Wasabi chocolate is a bit more common than WP choco so some of you may already know of its existence. I don't know how you feel when you're drunk, but those two are what I usually feel - my mind feels quick and awake while my body feels slooooow.

Do you agree with Allen's description of Kanda?

Hope you didn't get bored with this chap, don't worry though... **what you've been waiting for will start in the next chap. Yes, _that_. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Finally, all your doubts will be answered.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Kanda is swaying, gripping the edge of the table to keep the balance. His eyes are glazed and his head feels so light that it is surprising how heavily it tends to fall on the table every once in a while.

Allen moves towards him, putting one hand on his shoulder to steady him but the Japanese is so out of it that he had for a second forgotten Allen was there.

Kanda is so startled by Allen's touch that he tries to jump sideways to keep the distance from the boy. He is far too drunk to be quick enough to pull his foot flat on the floor and when he trips on it he feels the floor open up under him as a black hole. He falls from the immeasurable height of his _low_ pillow down into the gorge under him and he panics. He grabs something, anything solid not to fall but it is only after hitting the floor and realising he wasn't in fact that high up that he understands that he has grabbed onto Allen, pulling him down with himself.

"Oneesan…"

And he snorts, lightly frowning a disappointed look.

"Your restaurant is moving."

Allen chuckles, he can't believe he would live to see a drunken Kanda. Not that he is in better conditions…

"No, my master, it is you who is moving."

"Am not!"

"Well, not anymore, but you toppled down the pillow a second ago."

"Because your restaurant opened up under me."

Allen is still kneeling over Kanda, his arms supporting him on each side of Kanda's head. But he feels the effect of the sake on himself and he sits up chuckling again, hugging Kanda's chest to pull him back up.

They are both kneeling facing each other, Kanda's legs in between Allen's and the Japanese rests his head heavily on Allen's shoulder.

"I want more cake."

When Kanda nuzzles his neck whispering in his ear Allen feels a shiver running down his spine and Kanda hugs him back, not really ready to sit up on his own.

Allen feels his self-control slipping away, it is such a surreal situation, to be so close to Kanda, to smell the scent of his hair and have his breath hovering on his neck. While Allen is still pondering on what to do with the drunken boy, Kanda bites him. He bites his neck, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to make Allen gasp.

Despite the definite arousal that the biting is causing him, Allen pushes Kanda away from himself but when the boy just keeps falling backwards towards the edge of the table Allen hugs him again, pulling him towards himself once more, throwing Kanda's arms above his shoulders.

"Why did you bite me, master?"

"Cake..."

"Cake is finished..."

"Then… I eat you."

And once more Kanda closes his distance from Allen's neck, but this time he doesn't bite it… he licks it, a long, slow, wet lick from the collar bone up and around to Allen's lobe. And the shiver Allen feels this time make his breath ragged and his nails dig in Kanda's back.

He sighs, trying to keep his mind clear but the sound that escapes his mouth surprises him. He breathes Kanda's name, but instead of an annoyed sound, it is a lusty and sexy moan, craving need trying to break his last shred of control over the situation.

"You taste better than cake."

Kanda breath is hot in his ear, and when Allen feels the warm tip of Kanda's tongue explore the inside of his ear he looses it, flashing his hand up behind Kanda's head, grabbing a fistful of hair and forcefully tilting it backwards to crush his mouth.

Kanda's mouth is warm and soft, the alcoholic taste of Kanda's breath making him feel dizzy. He dives inside and mingles his tongue with Kanda's, savouring the taste of chocolate and pepper on the boy's tongue. He pushes in exploring every corner of that addictive mouth, crushing those lips to have better access. Kanda returns the kiss in a mellow way, and Allen backs off slightly allowing Kanda's wet lips to close and suck at his tongue.

Allen is drunk and he knows it, he can hear a tiny voice scream in his mind that this is oh so wrong and that he will pay for it as soon as Kanda returns back to normal, but Kanda is moaning, holy shit he's _moaning_ and _sucking_ his tongue so Allen pulls him closer to himself, crushing him in his arms and lifting his butt from his heels.

His last conscious thought before giving in completely is:

"_Kanda's moaning… who fucking cares about tomorrow?"_

Kanda is too drunk to have any thoughts at all, he's even confused about the identity of the person he's kissing: a boy, a waitress, someone he hates, someone who arouses him beyond logic, a fighter, a useless softy? But he isn't thinking, he doesn't care. He has stopped completely when his nose was buried in the other person's neck, and his desire had made him bite that soft skin.

He doesn't care where he is, Japan, Britain, maybe another planet, the only thing he knows are those arms around him, that hand in his hair, that mouth, that tongue… that chest, hard against his. And the need, the unbearable want.

He feels a warm tongue inside his mouth and he sucks on it, rolling his own tongue around it to feel the different textures of the upper and lower side of it. He hears a moan, a very needy one, but he doesn't understand it is his own, he just knows he doesn't want to stop, and that there isn't anything else in the world more important than this, no yesterday, no tomorrow. He wants more, now.

But these are not rational thoughts, these are gut feelings, needs and craves for more that just erase everything else, a pulse that throbs and covers every other need, becoming his priority above all others.

So when he feels being slowly pushed back he reaches with a hand behind his back and sits on the low table, spreading his legs to allow that person to kneel in between them.

Allen lowers Kanda on the table, swiping it with his arm to free it of the plates and cups that tumble down on the mat, and without never breaking the kiss he hovers on the boy, grabbing one of his thighs, pulling his hips towards the edge of the table and grinding his hard member on Kanda's throbbing one.

He props himself up on one elbow and pants on Kanda's parted lips, catching his breath and watching those lust filled eyes half covered by the long lashed eyelids. He slides one hand to stroke Kanda's inner thigh and when he hears Kanda cry a needy moan he shuts that sexy mouth with another deep kiss.

He unbuttons Kanda's shirt and leaves that chocolaty tongue to bite and lick Kanda's neck. He then puts a trail of wet kisses down Kanda's chest, nipping at one nipple and smiling when Kanda's hands grasp his hair in response.

He slides lower grazing Kanda's abs and biting the soft skin on the side of the waist, unfastening the belt and zipper, yanking down Kanda's trousers and underwear and taking them off the boy completely.

* * *

**As usual I don't force people to read the full graphic act so I divide it in two chaps. Next one will be fully descriptive and, as usual again, you can skip it if you feel uncomfortable.**

**Although, is there anyone here who doesn't want graphic yaoi? ;)**

Drunken uke Kanda is the cutest ever isn't it?... but in the alternate version in which he'll be seme he will be less cuddly :D


	6. Chapter 6

**Ah! Sorry! I had planned to submit chaps 5 and 6 together but yesterday I got distracted (a-hem, I baked giant ginger and cocoa cookies... AWESOME!) and I completely forgot! Eheh when I read the enraged reviews I couldn't but agree... yaoi cannot be separated! So here it comes...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Allen kneels back on his heels for a moment, taking in the image before his eyes:

a drunken Kanda lying on his back on the table, sweating and writhing for the loss of physical contact with eyes half closed and lips parted by shallow breaths. The shirt open to reveal the smooth skin of his panting chest, and a dark line of hair guiding down from his belly button to his glorious erection. His legs spread to allow access, and oh god, his hips thrusting lightly up in the air with the need for completion.

This sight wins Allen over and caressing the V-shaped muscles on Kanda's abdomen he lowers his head to lick Kanda's member. The Japanese's gasp causes a painful throb in his neglected member, and he feels Kanda's hand grasp his hair and push his head lower on his thrusting member, too drunk and aroused to realise what he's doing.

But Allen gladly follows Kanda's movements, taking all his length down his throat and sucking on it to make Kanda cry louder. When he feels Kanda's breathing become erratic and his gasps louder he takes Kanda's hand in his and pulls away from the pulsing member, licking his length one last time before unzipping his trousers.

Kanda groans at the interruption, he was so close, he could feel the edge of the waterfall approaching, it felt so good. He frowns, intoxicated and with no strength in his body, and doesn't think of what's happening when he feels a warm chest against his and that hot tongue lapping at his lips for entrance. He just reacts, going along with his body's needs, and he kisses back, sloppily and grunting for a deeper kiss.

He feels foreign hips in between his thighs and he spreads them craving for contact and pressure on his lower region. Allen bends over to kiss Kanda and he is even more aroused by the desire showing in the Japanese's kiss. The sounds made by the boy and his legs welcoming him close send his heartbeat pulsing straight in his cock.

He pauses from kissing Kanda and brings one of his hands to the boy's mouth, his palm grazing Kanda's lips and his fingers resting on Kanda's eyes and eyebrows.

"Lick it." It's a command in Kanda's ear but it is a whisper that promises pleasure and he complies in the slow and wet way that only a drunken person can achieve, so sexy and arousing that Allen stares biting his lower lip.

Kanda is holding Allen's wrist with a light touch of his long fingers, licking the palm of his hand with soft, wet strokes, savouring the saltiness of the skin and following the lines with the tip of his tongue. Allen can feel the rough upper side of Kanda's tongue tickling his sensitive palm and he stares at that tongue as it slips in between his second and third fingers licking their length up to their tip. Kanda's eyes are almost closed and his warm breath ghosts on the wet hand as he gently guides it downwards to his chin as he lick the fingers and then upwards again when he takes them in his mouth and sucks them, sliding his tongue all around them.

Allen whimpers at Kanda's lips closing on his fingers, he is enchanted by the sight but at the same time he feels he can't really wait much longer, so soon after he takes his hand out of Kanda's mouth and wraps it around his own length, coating it with Kanda's saliva.

He rubs his own tip, trying not to drive himself to pleasure, coating his two fingers in his salty pre-cum and then presses them against Kanda's tight hole. The boy shifts on the table, the discomfort of being stretched only faintly annoying him. He hisses, tensing his back when Allen slides the second finger inside and he grabs the edge of the table with his weakened hands.

Allen kisses him to ease the sensation and when he feels Kanda relax under him he moves his fingers out of the boy and sits back, guiding his tip to fill the now stretched hole.

He presses inside with one movement, unable to wait any longer. Kanda arches his back gaping but he is immediately won over by pleasure as Allen doesn't wait for him to react to the pain and immediately slides out and in again, pressing his crotch against Kanda's.

Kanda gasps a chocked sound, cramps of pleasure replacing those of pain and Allen groans, finally taking care of his own erection. He grabs Kanda's hips, slightly tilting them up and he thrusts his own hips forward restlessly, hearing his moans accompanying Kanda's pleasure filled gasps. He digs his fingers in Kanda's soft skin as he rolls his hips out and in again and again, not moving any other part of his body, his motion fluid and rythmic.

But as he feels pleasure mounting inside him he quickens his pace, bending on Kanda and propping his hands on the table. He starts pounding faster and harder into Kanda, using the strength of his back and legs to increase their pleasure. His moans rise to high-pitched chocking sounds and Kanda's fingers digging into his butt cheeks make his eyes shut close in the attempt of delaying his orgasm. Kanda is panting and very close to his own release, he'd like to take his erection in one hand and pump it but he's too intoxicated to be able to do more than just grab Allen's butt and he cries a slightly desperate sound, pushing his hips upwards to grind his erection on Allen's lower belly.

But Allen is a boy too so he knows exactly what Kanda needs at the moment, and he shifts his weight on one hand, moving the other one in between them and grabbing Kanda's swollen cock in a tight fist.

He starts pumping it tightly, as quickly as he's pounding into Kanda, and he's rewarded with a loud incoherent sound that resembles a surprised curse. Allen keeps pounding into Kanda, the friction of Kanda's skin against the table barely eased by the thin shirt. The table creaks under their movements but they are both so concentrated on their mounting pleasure that they don't even hear it.

It doesn't take much for them to reach their limit in this condition and as their voices grow phrenetically louder and their movements faster and more frantic they finally reach the point of no return. They both suddenly fall silent as they come, breath caught and shuddering violently, hot lava being released against their flesh.

Allen stands still deep inside Kanda, riding the waves of his release until the last shiver isn't followed by another one, and with a part of his mind he feels Kanda's cock pulsing several times in his hand covering him in hot liquid before becoming immobile. Kanda gasps loudly when his last throb frees himself from his member sending a last electric wave to his mind, and he slowly unclenches his unresponsive fingers from Allen's butt when the boy pulls out of him. He almost immediately passes out, falling asleep naked, coated in sweat and cum on the table in Allen's room, the alcohol finally taking its toll on him and his sexual hunger completely satiated.

Allen sits back on his heels, the fog of lust finally clearing in his mind after the orgasm, and as he regains his breath his eyes slowly grow larger till they reach the size of the moon, realisation dawning in his mind.

His jaw drops open, his brows furrow in a desperately shocked look and amid the thousands of thoughts his mind is blurting out all at once, one that sums the situation up stands out clearly:

"_Holy shit. I got Kanda drunk. Then I fucked him. Fuck. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm fucking dead."_

* * *

**Pant, pant. I just read it again as a last proof-reading and woah is it a hot one. **(I know it's pathetic to compliment one's own writing but I'm not really talking about how I wrote it, I'm talking about the images in my mind... those were HOT!)

* * *

**Sooo. You get it now why the story will be writing itself? Kanda's reaction is so very predictable. **How can I end it happily right after the lemon without making it sound rushed and stupid? No cute morning after hugs, no oh my god I just realised I love you so much, no mmm can we go again? No. Allen has signed his own death sentence. And the plot thickens on its own.Because I'm in no mood to write a tragedy... I'll try to give this a happy ending but it will just take longer than expected.

**And, you seme!Kanda lovers** (I am one too)... **what do you think of this uke!Kanda?**


	7. Chapter 7

**My eyes are falling shut, I'm tired...yawn, but you do deserve this chap, you've been waiting a bit already.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Allen is shocked and terrified. He retreats to sit back against the wall, staring at the still passed out Kanda on the table.

He doesn't know what to do, he's sure Kanda will kill him as soon as he wakes up, but there's no way he can make the boy forget about it.

"_It's not like I raped him though! He… he… he provoked me!_

_He was so out of it… He was gulping the sake down as only Cross would do!_

_Maybe if I talk to him and remind him of this…_

_Good Lord… he's never gonna listen to me… he'd kill me twice! Once for having gotten him drunk even if I didn't force him to drink and then for having raped him even if he actually started it._

_Shit, he'll just think I took advantage of his state!"_

Which is a bit of the truth, but he's so scared for his life that he doesn't realise they both were pretty out of it and that even if Kanda had started it, it was him who undressed the Japanese and did the actual thing. He almost feels like crying. He holds his head in his hands, grabbing fistfuls of hair and yanking them painfully in despair.

"_Or maybe… I can dress him up and tell him he has passed out on the table and that anything else he remembers is a dream!_

_Yeah right, because dreams give you a pain in the ass too?_

_Oooh shit, he's going to be in pain when he wakes up! I'm fucking dead."_

He sobs chocking a bit for the effort to control himself. Kanda is still passed out and Allen figures he will still be out for quite a while but he doesn't want to wake him up just yet.

He looks back at him and flinches when he sees Kanda is still in the indecent condition he has left him. Of course, how would he be any better? But Allen isn't really thinking straight is he? He is too focused on his imminent painful death to.

So he realises it would be a much more painful death if Kanda wakes up in that state, and he hurries getting himself dressed before very gently cleaning Kanda's belly and dressing him to a decent state.

He freaks out every time Kanda mumbles something or weakly slaps him to shoo him away, but the Japanese is really too drunk to understand anything so Allen can finish his job without much worries added to his terrified thoughts about his fate.

He lays Kanda on the mat with his head resting on one of the cushions and he stands up, folding his arms tightly around his chest and hunching forward slightly. He tugs his hands in his armpits and starts fidgeting with his thumbs on the creases of his shirt. He even digs them painfully in the soft skin above his armpit and he pushes them in, self-inflicting pain in an unconscious masochistic way.

"_What am I supposed to do now?_

_I can't let him sleep here… if he wakes up here tomorrow there's no way I'm going to leave this room alive._

_I should carry him to his room… but how? I'd need some help, maybe Lavi…"_

And thinking of Lavi he finally remembers: _"Tim!!"_

Yes, Tim is still recording everything… Tim _has recorded_ everything. He freaks out, inhaling a sharp breath that rasps his throat making him cough and he runs to where Tim is hiding, still recording his doings.

"_Holy shit Tim has recorded me and Kanda… God I have to get rid of this immediately!"_

But then, when he has Tim in his hands he suddenly stops.

"_Wait… Maybe I should keep this… Maybe I could save my life showing Kanda I haven't raped him… Yeah right, like I can go to him and say 'hey Kanda, watch this video, it shows me fucking you but you'll see you actually wanted it!' Oh Lord…"_

But even so he still asks Tim to cut the footage at the moment he and Kanda had toasted with the last cup of sake, and he seals the remaining compromising footage with a password.

Then he sets off to find Lavi in the library, thinking on what to tell him to explain Kanda's state. It is not as late as he had thought and although he still feels some of the effects of the sake in his system when he walks in long corridors and down the stairs, the fear for his fate has him pretty much alert and thinking. He walks in the room, smiling at Bookman but not stopping for any conversation, and he follows the direction Bookman's nod sends him to, to find Lavi sleeping on an open log behind a tall pile of books.

Allen shakes him to wake him, not confident that his voice wouldn't betray his worry. Lavi blinks several times before focusing his eyes on Allen and just as immediately he grins the widest smile he can muster:

"You're done? Did you make him? I want to see the footage now!"

Lavi is hyper as usual, especially now that he is just a moment away from seeing the Ice Lord melt and moan, but he's a Bookman afterall and although Allen is the master of hiding from others he is genuinely terrified at the moment and he can't hide it effectively enough.

Lavi's grin fades almost instantly and he eyes Allen with a worried look.

"Is everything all right, Allen?"

"Please come with me?"

Lavi's mind is full of questions but he follows Allen out of the Library and out of reach from Bookman's ears before allowing himself to ask again.

"What's wrong, Allen? Don't make me worry!"

"Uh… it's about Kanda…"

"Yeah… so?"

"Uh… he's… passed out in my room…"

Lavi stops in mid step. "What?"

"He drank too much sake and now he's passed out on the floor… I need help to bring him back to his room…"

Yeah, that story is believable, he doesn't need to give any more detail or explanation. Oh, if only it could work with Kanda tomorrow too!

Lavi's grin surfaces again… this is going to be so much more fun than he has imagined! Not only he'll see Kanda moan but also passed out drunk!

"So, how does Kanda's moan sound? You did get him to moan right?"

Now it is Allen's turn to trip. The memory of Kanda sucking his tongue with a sexy and lusty moan flashes before his eyes and he gasps, asking himself how the hell has Lavi already found out. He turns a bright shade of red, luckily hidden by the shadows of the corridor.

"M-moan?"

"Of course! That was the whole point of feeding him your bitter chocolate thing! Did you get him to moan or not? Don't tell me he didn't like the cake!"

Allen sighs, relieved. _"Right… the cake…"_ "Oh, y-yes… he did moan, actually."

Allen's weird behaviour hasn't gone unnoticed by the future Bookman but he is too hyper right now to process it. He will think about it later… when he will put all the pieces together, but right now, Allen's secret is safe.

"I can't wait to see the footage!"

"Help me bring Kanda to his room first…"

Lavi nods several times as they enter Allen's room and he is almost jumping on his feet with anticipation as he takes in the sight before his eyes.

Another piece of information Lavi's mind registers for future processing is the fact that all the cutlery is fallen from the table but at the moment he can only see Kanda, sprawled on the mat in a very limp way and clearly dead drunk.

He'd want to laugh out loud at the sight and Allen's worried look just threatens to make him burst out that hardly contained laugh.

"You're right to be worried Allen! He'll want to kill you before breakfast tomorrow!"

"_You don't know how right you are Lavi."_

And with Allen sighing hopelessly they start off towards Kanda's room, carrying the unconscious swordsman in a very unelegant way. Thank God he's fast asleep.

* * *

**No don't complain about nothing happening. If you think this is a useless chap then read it again carefully.**

Thanks for your support so far, it means lots to me.


	8. Chapter 8

1) Sorry it's taking me longer to update. My life has been a chaos lately.

2) **The following chap is an experiment**. A particular description of the sensations and feelings of Kanda as he wakes up. An internal point of view as he takes baby steps to reconnect with reality.

I've been very careful with the choice of words, layout and style, it all means something, however I am still not entirely satisfied with the result. I've been too busy with stuff lately to have the essential calm (and time) to make this better, my mind is so tired by life problems that when I read it I don't even grasp what it is that I don't like. So for now I'll submit this as it is.

3) Still unable to add spaces between paragraphs, so (although I HATE it) I will use -

**Please don't read it too quickly, as I said the words and composition have been carefully chosen. Start with NOT knowing that you are Kanda and that you are in your bed, in the Order.  
**

* * *

Black fog of slumber,

in the depth of unconsciousness.

While cautiously surfacing from sleep,

a faint golden glare tinges the black.

-

Nausea.

-

Swaying feeling alarming the senses.

The world is moving,

it swings dangerously.

Maybe on a sailing boat,

one eye cracks open.

-

It's too bright.

-

It shuts closed.

A groan.

It makes the head split,

and spin.

Nauseously floating on the back with no balance,

turning on the side looks like a good idea.

-

It is not.

-

Pain shoots down the neck,

the shoulders,

the back,

the ass,

the arms.

-

The ass?

-

Two eyes flip open,

they stare at a stone wall.

The brows try to furrow,

the head hurts fiercely.

-

Memories seep through the headache.

_-_

_Chocolate._

_Wasabi._

_Sake._

Too much sake.

_-_

_A smile._

_A neck._

_A mouth._

Feeling of softness on the tongue.

_-_

_A naked chest._

_Arms supporting it,_

_glistening with sweat._

Watching from beneath.

-

_White bangs._

_Covering eyes and cheeks,_

_moving with every thrust._

A cramp squeezes the abdomen.

_-_

_The mouth again._

_Lips parted._

_Echoes of sounds._

_Pants._

_Gasps._

_Moans._

-

-

Some seconds later,

from inside a wooden door,

a feral scream shakes the corridor.

-

A door is slammed.

And a furious swordsman runs growling.

"_Oh, he's dead. So fucking dead."_

* * *

1) About the last sentence. It was done on purpose that Kanda's thought is similar to Allen's. You may not like it but it sounded to me ironic that they would word their feeling in the same, although of course opposite, way.

2) Kanda's awakening was very graphic in my mind... I could imagine laying on my bed with my eyes closed and see black, then golden and then slowly feel and react to my body, before remembering bits and pieces. A very personal way of imagining Kanda's reaction, maybe not entirely in character but as I said before this is not finished yet. And some sentences I don't like.

3) For those of you who hated this, since this way of writing was an attempt to communicate his sensations from his point of view while he wakes up, the next chaps will return to normal. However, I still hope you liked it, or at least that you liked the idea behind my attempt.


	9. Chapter 9

And finally... the morning after.

**warning: violence.  
**

* * *

Lavi and Allen are again sitting in the cafeteria with their meals sitting in front of them. Breakfast is usually one of the happiest moment of day for Allen, being finally able to eat the canteen down after more than 8 hours of fasting, and in this particular moment he should be more than happy, he should literally be beaming for having succeeded in making Kanda love his dessert.

Lavi has seen the footage the night before, he laughed his ass off to see Kanda so out of it and moaning and he is enthusiastic about how successful his plan was. He was surprised to see Kanda play along with Allen's sexy teasing without killing him and he plans on for ever tease Kanda with it. He can think of one million jokes he can crack on Kanda's _preferences_ and he's so happy to have all this new material to work with for his pranks that he can hardly sit still.

But Allen is not as happy, how could he, he's going to die today! He stares at the waffles and eggs lying in his dish and he pokes the sausages with the fork without eating. Lavi doesn't know why though, and he really feels confused.

"What's wrong Allen? Are you having an hangover?"

"Uh, no, I'm fine, thank you Lavi."

Allen forces himself to take some bites of his sausages but without realising it he resumes his fidgeting without even swallowing.

This is so suspicious to Lavi that he too stops eating, studying Allen with his mind going into full Bookman's mode.

"_Something is clearly off. For Allen not to feel hungry in the morning he must really be upset. Oh, I know!"_

"Are you so scared of Kanda?"

Allen pauses his pointless stabbing and sighs, leaning heavily on his elbows and hiding his face in his hands.

"I'm used to fight with him. I'm used to quarrel and him hating me, but this time things have gone too far. He'll kill me for sure, and I can't blame him."

"Oh come on, don't make it sound so terrible. It's not like you forced him! It's his fault for not stopping."

"Uh?" Allen blinks twice, staring at him for a moment as if he needs some time to interpret his words. _"He doesn't know, right?"_

And Lavi explains, as if talking to a kid.

"If Kanda doesn't understand when to stop drinking it can't be your fault!"

Allen sighs with relief and his usual smile appears on his face but Lavi has caught Allen's confusion and an alarm goes off in his trained mind.

"_He's definitely hiding something."_

Before he can think or ask anything else he's distracted by a finder flying inside the canteen from the corridor and crashing on a table near the entrance. He jumps on his feet, ready to fight back any Akuma that has had the courage, and luck, of infiltrating the Order, but he freezes when he sees that the enemy appearing at the door is Kanda.

A raging, dangerously furious Kanda, searching the room with demonic eyes. People back off as if he truly were an Akuma creating an empty circle around him, and his eyes squint searching and searching, until they find their prey and they flip wide open.

Lavi swallows hard when he sees that the object of Kanda's interest is Allen and he fights the instinct of running away from such a dangerously looking swordsman. Instead he steps next to the stunned Allen, trying to buffer him from the impact with the incoming Kanda but the Japanse is blinded by fury and throws him violently away without even taking notice.

Lavi ends up painfully crashing with his back on one bench and he can only watch as a surprisingly not struggling Allen is grabbed by his hair and roughly pulled away. He tries to stand up but the pain stabbing him in his back makes him gasp and fall back on the floor.

Kanda is already out of the room and storming down the corridor, still holding and pulling on Allen's hair, and he doesn't show any sign of wanting to let go any time soon. Allen is bent forward by Kanda's grip and he tries to keep up with the Japanese's pace whimpering any time Kanda tugs at his hair with more strength than really needed. He isn't really struggling to free himself, instead he just tries not to trip on his feet as he's walking with his face slightly turned to his left and away from Kanda, blindly walking next to him.

Then, suddenly, Kanda jerks him to the side of the corridor, pulling him inside a room. As Kanda rotates slamming the door with his right hand he still holds on Allen's hair with his left, making the boy stumble in a circle around him. When Kanda makes a complete turn closing the door, he shoves the British boy against the wall next to the entrance, so violently Allen shuts his eyes on impact and feels all his breath knocked out of his lungs.

He isn't given any time to catch it back or even take a look at where he is because Kanda brutally punches his jaw, the force making Allen hit his temple on the wall. Kanda punches him again, this time in his stomach and Allen bends forward with a pained huff, eyes wide and mouth open.

Kanda pants heavily as he watches Allen kneel down on the floor, arms hugging his aching stomach. He crouches down in front of the British boy and he painfully pulls the hair on the back of Allen's head forcefully tilting his head backwards. He growls a mere inch from Allen's nose and talks with a low voice that shows all of his anger and despise.

"How did you fucking dare?"

Allen doesn't answer. He feels guilty and at complete fault, besides he is in too much pain to move his jaw. Kanda isn't expecting an answer either and he glares at Allen for a second before shoving his head to the ground. He straddles Allen sitting heavily on the boy's chest so to make it difficult for Allen to breathe and he grabs a fistful of his hair forcing him to face him as he bends closely to level his eyes with Allen's, growling with a devilish smirk:

"You have such a strong death wish? You could have just asked."

Allen smiles weakly without answering, there's nothing he could say that would calm Kanda down anyway. Instead he slowly raises his hands feebly placing them on Kanda's hips as if they could keep the Japanese away from him. Kanda however freaks out at being held by his hips by Allen, especially because this simple gesture makes his aggression look like two lovers ready for angry sex.

He jerks himself sitting back up slapping Allen and he tears his hands away from his hips. He pins them above Allen's head with one hand and he leans over again, grabbing Allen's jaw with the other, digging his nails in his cheeks and under his ears and pushing against Allen's chin with the curve between his thumb and index finger.

He fights the urge to bite that smiling face to bleeding and instead he snorts:

"You didn't have enough? Tch… You don't get it, do you? _Stop_ fucking touching me."

Oxygen deprivation is shutting down most of Allen's brain, but he is quite annoyed by the implications in Kanda's words. He is talking like Allen can't stop touching him, like he's fucking harassing him, and this Allen can't really take.

It's one thing accepting Kanda being angry for having sex with him, but hear him suggest he is acting like a maniac _planning_ the thing to get to touch him is really too much. It's hilarious considering that it was Kanda who provoked him!

So despite being pinned beneath the homicidal boy Allen finds himself chuckle a chocked laugh, which of course stuns Kanda.

"What the _fuck_ is so damn funny Moyashi?"

Allen tries to open his mouth but Kanda's hand gripping at his throat doesn't help, and the only sound that escapes his lips is a suffocated groan. Kanda releases him just enough to talk but he keeps his hand lightly on Allen's throat, ready to tighten the hold.

It is strange how different human minds would work in Allen's predicament. Some people would beg for their life, some would try to tell their version of the story, some others would not deny their fault and instead try to reason with Kanda… but some others, fuelled by anger and humiliation, act cocky. So, against all of his wellbeing, Allen defies Kanda and with a rusty voice says:

"S-Stop touching...? … It's not… what you wanted… yesterday…"

Kanda can't believe his hears. _"He didn't just say that!"_

He stands up abruptly, dragging Allen up by his collar. He then punches his jaw again, so hard Allen falls backwards and trips hitting his butt on the floor.

"Liar!"

The angry boy stomps forward and drags Allen up on his feet again, he shoves him against the wall, turning him to face it and twisting one of his arms behind his back.

Allen flinches at the pain in his arm but he insists, despite the throbbing pain in his mouth, already too late to draw back.

"You wanted it."

Kanda's jaw drops open and his eyes threaten to pop out of his head.

"You're full of bullshit."

He increases the pressure on Allen's arm, pulling it upwards and Allen cries, shutting his eyes. He goes for it.

"Y-you started it."

This is just too much. Kanda yells madly and fogged by rage he pulls one last time on Allen's arm until his shoulder snaps. Allen screams in pain and Kanda lets go of him just before the door slams open and a bewildered Lavi runs in.

All the shouting has guided him to that store room and when he enters it he sees Allen holding his shoulder, slowly falling on his knees and Kanda stepping back with a demonic look on his usually calm face.

"_Oh God…"_

He stands stunned looking back and forth from Allen to Kanda, but he is forced to step away from the door when Kanda tramps out. The Japanese glares at him on his way out and stops to back slap him with his fist while yelling:

"This is your fault too! How could you set me up?"

Lavi stares at Kanda stomping out with shock showing in his eye and he holds his painful cheek, but a whimper wakes him up from his pained stupor and he rushes to Allen's side.

The British boy is pale with red signs showing on his white jaw, his face is contorted in a painful mask and when he sees Lavi kneeling beside him with a concerned look he tries to smile.

"It's going to be ok... Lavi. Just help me to the nurs…"

But he doesn't end his sentence. He faints in Lavi's arms.

* * *

**I'm having troubles with the middle chapters of this story. Weirdly enough I have already written the last chaps but I'm having an annoying writer's block for the chapters in between... Be patient, it's turning out well :)**

I think...


	10. Chapter 10

Phew... after the violent outburst here are the consequences. And the plot thickens.

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Lavi is sitting beside Allen's bed in the nursery. The boy is sleeping, exhausted and treated with painkillers, and Lavi takes his time thinking. Too many things don't add up and the bruised and broken friend in the hospital bed is the biggest one.

"_It was supposed to be fun… how could it end like this? Kanda has really gone too far this time._

_However… this is the same thing Allen has said, that he went too far. What's that supposed to mean?_

_Kanda is a jerk, God knows if I know it, but he truly was out of himself this morning… he has reacted like something terrible has happened, I can't imagine him being so angry for just getting drunk."_

So Lavi's mind slowly starts putting the pieces together, remembering all of the details of the night before that were a bit off. He's a Bookman, and this means he will remember _every_ detail, even the ones he hadn't thought of as important at the moment.

He starts from the beginning of his memories, which is the moment when Allen had come to find him in the library. He remembers how scared and jumpy Allen was and how the dish and cups were all thrown off the table in Allen's room.

"_The footage didn't show anything strange though… a part maybe from the fact that it ended quite abruptly as if Allen cut off what happened afterwards._

_But there's only one way to be sure about this."_

He decides to watch the footage again, to check on its duration as well as any detail that he might have missed. He grabs Tim who was resting on Allen's pillow and he locks the door before telling the golem to replay the video.

Of course, he can't miss the fact that the boys have teased each other so intensely right from the start. He smirks amused at how well Allen plays the sexy servant but then he remembers Allen talking about his sexual preferences in the canteen and he starts wondering how much of Allen's act was in fact an act.

Conscious of this knowledge he begins to see the apparently innocent game under a new light and a doubt creeps in his mind. He watches the video with his jaw dropping open as he remembers other details that make his theory look more and more realistic.

"_Kanda said that I set him up. Set him up. He used these exact words… and they are pretty strange. As if Allen and I have planned something bad and used the dessert story as a cover. It's clear we wouldn't use such a complicated way just to make him drunk, so something worse must have happened for him to think that."_

He doesn't want to put his theory into words, not before he has gone through all of his memories, so he keeps thinking.

"_At breakfast Allen said he could not blame Kanda for wanting to kill him. That things have gone too far. And I had to explain that I was talking about drinking when I said that he didn't force Kanda… the same hesitation he had when I asked if he got Kanda to moan._

_Holy… Innocence. Could it be true after all?"_

Allen and Kanda toast with sake and the video ends. Lavi asks Tim to tell him the duration of the footage and glowing digits appear from Tim's mouth: 46:57:03 minutes. It doesn't take Lavi long to understand that another 50 minutes miss from the count.

"_Almost an hour between Kanda supposedly fainting after finishing the dessert and Allen coming to the library. He could have slept too? Maybe he was too drunk to come find me immediately?"_

But this is Allen's friend trying to find a second theory that would let Allen off the hook. Bookman Junior instead is accounting those 50 minutes to other activities.

"_More than enough time for Allen to…"_ he swallows, _"while Kanda was unconscious… and then for Allen to… clean after the mess... But he forgot the plates. The plates… they fell off the table when… while… oh God!"_

Lavi stands up with a shocked expression. Everything fits together, there can be no doubt that what happened is…

"_Allen has raped Kanda!"_

He inhales sharply and covers his mouth with both hands, staring at the sleeping boy in horror.

---

At the same time Kanda is sitting in Komui's office, his raging fury boiling down to red lava slowly flowing inside him. Komui is holding his head in his hands and he sighs, lifting his eyes onto the Japanese swordsman once more.

"You will not tell what happened to make you beat Allen to a pulp?"

"Tch."

"The higher-ups have already taken their decision, Kanda. So it won't make things worse, and I really would want to know why two of my best exorcists had such a violent encounter."

Kanda's mouth stays closed and Komui looses his patience.

"You broke his teeth, two ribs and his shoulder! What were you thinking?! I know you've never liked him but you can't do this! He's your comrade, your friend!"

"Tch, he's not my friend."

Komui stares at Kanda taking in his words, and then his features turn to stone as he speaks:

"Fine, Kanda do as you please. Your punishment has been already decided anyway. Since we can't have you locked up because your skills are needed to the cause your rank is as of now lowered to that of apprentice…"

Kanda's glare could melt Komui on the spot but the Supervisor continues.

"… Therefore, you are going to go back to travel with a general until further notice. And, since the closest general we have the location of is, unexpectedly, General Cross, you will leave tonight to meet him in France."

This last sentence finally elicits a heated reaction.

"Bastard Cross? No way I'm travelling with him!"

"_General_ Cross has accepted to be your master as soon as the situation was explained to him, and he will allow you to go on the missions we will assign you while travelling with him. And this is a punishment, Kanda, the fact that you don't like it just makes it more fit."

The swordsman stands up growling, he can't believe this is happening.

Komui mercilessly finishes his speech: "You will meet with General Cross in Avignon, four days from now."

Kanda and Komui stare at each other in silence for some moments, the standing, furious Japanese starting to appreciate the depth of the pit he has thrown himself into by beating Allen and the Chinese feeling like a father who has to punish his beloved son against his will.

He would want to lovingly talk to both the kids and understand what went wrong, have them sort it out and throw a party to celebrate their renewed friendship, but he is the Supervisor, and orders were crystal clear, so he complies, although his expression and voice show his pain as he dismisses the shocked exorcist.

"Good bye, Kanda-kun."

* * *

**Sooo...** Kanda is going to be Cross's apprentice! You didn't see this coming did you? MUAHAHAH!!

However, it is surprisingly difficult have Cross and Kanda interact, I'm pretty much stuck! But don't despare, it's coming along :)

**sidenote-** my birthday is coming up! Would anyone of you buy me a Kanda please? Pretty please?

**help:** does anyone of you know of a good site for non-fan fiction? I mean, original stories with original characters and BG.


	11. Chapter 11

news:

**1)** I changed my profile. Go check my projects... there's a surprise for you people who loved my first fiction -giggle-

**2)** My birthday was on the 30th of November, I celebrated it together with my best friend's one, who was on the 17th :) Thank you all for your wishes... I partied, ate cake(s), chinese, tunisian couscous and pizza, I drank wine, tequila, beer and champagne... and. I. did. not. throw. up. I'm so cool it's scandalous (who gets the reference?)

**3)** I love how enthusiastic your reviews are, it's cool that I managed to shock you with Kanda becoming Cross' apprentice... I love you all!

now, **Enjoy!**

* * *

The same day that Kanda walks in the walled city of Avignon, Allen is decreased his painkillers enough to wake up. After four days of limbo they both face the consequences of their actions, ironically at the same time, but in two different cities.

_Avignon_

The river flows meek and of a dark green colour. Its murky waters reflect the metal tinge of the grey sky and lazy ripples form intricate patterns on the slow surface. The air is cold and humid but it is a clear day and as Kanda stands on the bridge watching the river disappear behind a bend into the distance he shivers for the wet feeling creeping down his neck into the collar of the shirt. He flips the collar of the coat up, buttoning it up in an attempt to block the air out, and lazily wishes for Lavi's scarf, for once not annoyed by his own thoughts.

He is supposed to meet General Cross today and the awful weather sets a deign background for such a dreaded encounter. He was told to be on the bridge by 6 am, and despite the cold, and the definite feeling that Cross will have him freeze his butt before turning up, he still was on time.

His fingers have gone from red to white then to a sickly bluish colour and to no avail he is keeping them inside the freezing pockets.

"_Che… not just Lavi's scarf, I'd need a whole flock of sheep here."_

He will not pace the bridge in an attempt to keep warm. No way he will show Cross he is positively freezing.

So he stands still, his nose buried inside the collar of the coat and faint puffs of breath curling in the humid air around the rim. His toes are numb and his rosy cheeks sting, feeling both cold and sticky.

The sun is rising slowly but determined over the humid air but it will take it a few more hours to win its battle against the cold, and for now it shines low of a warmthless bright light on the horizon.

Kanda is focused on keeping his body warm through sheer will, failing miserably, but anything not to think about Cross. He has already gone through the questions a few times in the days spent travelling 'Will he ask for the reason for beating Allen up? Why has he accepted to take him? What will he make him do?" and so on and so forth. He doesn't like to spend time supposing things and now that the moment has arrived he doesn't want to be nervous.

However, he is.

Cross is despicable, but he can be pretty scary too. And Kanda knows it. So he glares at the innocent river and waits, furious to be left waiting in the cold, but determined not to show it.

He guesses at least two hours have already gone by but no sign of Cross around. His already notably absent patience is wearing thin and his pride hurts for being toyed with, so he grunts a curse and decides to go away, taking a step back from the edge.

"Already?" A low, amused voice enquires from just behind his shoulder.

Kanda gasps loudly jumping as far from the voice as possible, his eyes wide from shock and his hand already on Mugen's hilt. He pants heavily, honestly startled and while recognition seeps through his scared mind his brows furrow above the still wide eyes.

"Cross?!" _"How the hell did he get that close to me without me noticing it?!"_

Cross smirks, enjoying the look on the boy's face, a mixture of bewilderment, confusion and yes, a growing anger fuelled by the humiliation of being surprised. As Kanda understands Cross was using his Innocence's power to stay hidden he straightens himself up expressing all of his despise with a dark frown, and Cross lights up a cigarette, staring unconcerned at the river below.

"Were you going away already?"

"Already… Tch… You are two hours late!"

"So? Did I tell you you could go away after two hours waiting?"

"You said to meet up _by_ 6. You should thank me I waited this long! Next time I…"

Kanda interrupts himself for Cross turns his face to stare at him in a surprisingly hard way.

"Next time? Next time you'll wait as long as I want you too. You are my apprentice now. And address me as General from now on too."

Kanda grits his teeth, he hates the man, oh he does, and he is sure Cross is enjoying himself too but there's no way he will be allowed to go back to the headquarters any time soon if he does not get along with him, so he whips his head towards the river and hisses a

"Yes, sir."

Cross, the pure bastard, isn't satisfied.

"Did you not hear me? I'm your General. Ge-ne-ral. Got it, kid?"

"_Kid?!" _Kanda is feeling homicidal. "Yes, Ge-ne-ral." He singsongs mimicking Cross's tone, clearly showing how _little_ he is surrendering.

The General smirks… this boy is a tough one. _"He'll be fun."_

A seagull cries high in the cold sky as it sees the two cloaked figures leave the bridge. The smaller man keeps his distance from the leading one, following him stiffly a step to his left and as he coughs he evidently forces his own hand away from his sword's hilt. The other man clearly fakes unawareness and he keeps blowing puffs of smoke from under his hat into the breeze that carries them to the face of the boy behind him.

The bird's instinct tell him that those apparently calm individuals are actually tensed and on the brink of a deathly fight so he waits until they are at a safe distance before finally landing on the now empty stones. He then stares into the waters of the river below, in a much more interested way than any of the two men had done.

---

_London_

Lavi watches as Allen starts to wake from his drug induced sleep. He is both eager and wary to finally be able to talk to him, unsure whether to address the topic or wait for him to spit it out.

Allen groans and feebly shifts under the bed sheets while the nurse and Komui stand at his side to check on his condition as he wakes up. His internal haematomas are retreating but his bones are still broken and he will not be able to accept any mission or even exercise for a month.

Lavi has spent the last four days zoning off while working, continuously questioning the conclusion he has reached the day Allen was admitted to the hospital wing. As he watches Komui and the nurse leave the room he still fights against the Bookman inside himself, and against all the evidence.

"_Allen would never do something like that! Crap, if Panda knew my friendship with Allen is making me question my Bookman intuition…"_

He has already decided he will completely skip work today to stay with Allen and if Panda asked (kicked) about it he would simply say he was gathering information about the fight between Allen and Kanda, for the sake of the record. Not that the lame excuse would fool Panda but it probably would stop him from dragging Lavi away.

Lavi smiles at Allen, not in his usual cheerful way but Allen doesn't notice.

"Oy Allen, how are you feeling?"

"Beaten… Broken… Sore…"

"Right, right, I get it, it was a stupid question!"

He laughs and Allen finally smiles, albeit very sadly, and Lavi's smile fades into a more serious but uncomfortable look. It is clear that the topic cannot be avoided.

"Say… Allen… you know there's a question that's bugging everyone's mind…"

"Yeah... I can imagine what it is." Allen answers with a soft voice but he turns his head away from Lavi to stare at an empty chair.

"Would you… like to talk about it?"

After a moment of silence Allen softly whispers: "What did… Kanda… say? Oh, wait, I bet he kept his mouth shut."

"Yeah, pretty much, you know Yuu-chan isn't much of a talker." He omits the fact that Kanda has been punished and sent away to Cross, he feels a bit of a cheater but it is not the right moment to say it.

"Sorry, Lavi… I don't really feel like talking about it."

"So… what if I do the talking and you just listen?"

Allen turns his head to look at the redhead, he should have expected Lavi to have an idea of what happened. He fears how accurate it is going to be and he nods stiffly holding his breath unconsciously. Lavi starts talking putting his reasoning into words.

"Ok, then. Yuu-chan is a violent person and also a very proud one, but I don't think he would beat you up that badly for just getting drunk. Even more so because you didn't force him to drink so it was his fault completely.

So, I think, something else happened that made him this furious."

He pauses, waiting for Allen's reaction and the boy deeply sighs, nodding defeated and releasing the breath he has been holding.

"What happened… has happened _after_ he got drunk. That's pretty obvious because he would have beaten you up that night if he was conscious _during_ that something else, plus you showed me Tim's recording and nothing happened before or while he was eating…"

Allen just stares, waiting and listening.

"… and since you deleted the recording of the rest of the night before com..."

Allen blinks, and his lips stiffen. Lavi, who is studying every single movement of the bedded friend stops immediately.

"What?" He thinks back to what he has said and only one part of his reasoning was just an assumption.

"You didn't delete it?!"

Allen's eyes widen and he tries to hide the fact by turning to study the ever so interesting empty chair.

"You didn't."

Allen is like an open book for Lavi, he can read every single movement and understand what the friend is thinking, so he doesn't need an answer from Allen, he _knows_ now that his friend hasn't deleted the incriminating part of the video. He shifts on the chair barely containing his eagerness, oh hell, what he would give to watch that part.

As he bits his lip not to freak out and blabber about it from excitement Allen shuts his eyes and groans.

"_Lavi will make a great Bookman…"_

"Ehm… Allen…"

"No way I'd show you."

"_Damn!"_ "Right, of course. But, Allen? Is it… what I think?" His voice shakes slightly.

"It depends… What do you… think it is?" Allen is tensing. The chair fills his vision but he doesn't see it.

"I… that you… him…" Lavi can't continue. He chokes, but it is clear what he means. Allen doesn't answer, but his flaming cheeks confirm Lavi's insinuation, and the redhead gasps, murmuring shocked.

"You really did rape him…"

Wait. Na-ah. Allen's eyes flip open and he shouts in disbelief.

"No! No no no no! I didn't…" he stops himself from shouting the word, suddenly conscious of where he is. He lowers his voice to a whisper and with glassy wide eyes he stares into Lavi's, leaning closer and gripping the sheets with the uninjured arm.

"I didn't _rape_ him! That's not what happened! How could you even think it?"

Lavi turns a bright shade of red, he is happy and relieved he was wrong but he is ashamed he could think something so bad of his friend. He leans closer and in the same conspirator tone of Allen he whispers:

"So _what_ in the world happened??"

Allen calms down a bit, leaning back against the pillow once more, and he sighs heavily. It is too late now not to tell Lavi, so he starts his telling, unexpected relief washing over him with every word.

* * *

**Did you like this double chap?**

It's unexpectedly difficult to keep both stories going on at the same time, so don't think all the fic will have this composition :)

**revieeeeeeeeeew!**


	12. Chapter 12

Another double chap.

On a side note, no one got the reference from last chap's sentence about my birthday... ts ts ts... Soul Eater's OST!

Also, no one of you has picked up on the mistake I wrote in chap.8... if anyone evers re-reads this story and finds it I'll write a oneshot for him/her. Hint: memory can fail. No more hints!

I wonder how many of you read these author notes I write... raise your hand if you always do!

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Avignon_

The morning is misty and cold, but the streets are already bustling with busy people, men and women carrying the signs of their hard lives on their wornout faces. Among the adults some young boys that run around doing their odd jobs make Cross reminisce about his own ex-apprentice.

He was never easy on Allen, he used to make him work his ass off to repay his debts and take care of him when he was too drunk to even walk. He used to call him "Idiot Apprentice" and it definitely wasn't the only insult with which he mined Allen's self-esteem, always reminding him of how useless he was and of how _true_ men behave. But in truth this jerk-act hid affection and care, trust in the boy and in his fighting skills and was meant to make him stronger.

"_I know the boy, I was there while he was growing up, so I know that Allen isn't able to hurt people, he's an idiot that would rather sacrifice himself than hurt another human being."_

And thus, Cross doesn't need to ask what happened, he doesn't care about what Allen did or did not do to provoke Kanda's reaction, because, he's sure:

"_Allen did nothing that could justify Kanda's level of violence."_

He has already judged Kanda, and the Japanese should thank God that Cross cannot use his innocence's Judgment to kill human beings because he would have certainly _judged_ him for having beaten _his_ idiot apprentice to a pulp.

Moreover he still is a General and although a mission would certainly be more important than an exorcist's safety, personal revenge cannot be used as an excuse to put the light out in Kanda's head.

"_Komui was clear, I cannot physically hurt the boy. But I will make him suffer. Besides, it is easy to find something to annoy Kanda, since _everything_ annoys him. After all, he has been sent to me as a _punishment_, so I will enjoy making the punishment hurt. Maybe it will teach him a lesson or two."_

Actions have consequences, and even if Kanda is a very powerful exorcist he cannot behave in the way he does and expect his superiors to let it go, especially if he starts to talk back to Generals too.

Plus, travelling alone and maintain a high quality of life is tough, Cross really misses the errand boy, the pay check boy and the nurse (all of which would be Allen, of course) so he will teach Kanda humbleness and respect _while_ using him to fulfil Allen's role.

"Let's get something warm to eat."

He guides Kanda to a small inn and when they are comfortably seated on the warm couches he asks him what he would like to eat, explaining the delicacies of French food to the Japanese. The boy however opts for tea and half a baguette with cheese, and sighing Cross orders a glass of warm mulled wine and the remaining baguette.

"_Wine at breakfast… he's worse than I thought."_

Cross peeks at the pissed boy and can't resist the urge to piss him off some more.

"So, Komui said you will be allowed to go on solo missions if they need you to, but that you will have to come back to me when you are done. I decided that if your solo mission happens not to interrupt any research I'll be conducting, then I will accompany you."

"Tch…" Kanda is clearly unhappy about the news.

The corner of Cross' mouth bends up in a hardly hidden victorious smile."Oh, you hurt me. Do you not wish to spend time with your general?"

"As little as possible, thank you very much."

"Too bad then that it will be me to decide when you are fit to be an exorcist again…"

"I already _am_ an exorcist!"

Kanda grits his teeth for the implied insult scorches what he is most proud of but Cross doesn't let go.

"No… you are an apprentice… and a slow one it seems."

"You, bast…"

"Tz, tz… there's a lot you still need to learn. I'll be more than glad to teach you, my beloved apprentice."

"Don't call me that." Kanda spits it out.

"Eeh, I think I just decided I will."

The waiter interrupts the escalating discussion and the two men start eating in silence. But Cross is determined to rub every sore spot in Kanda and he has the distinct feeling that talking to him while he eats is going to be a winning tactic.

"So, as I was saying…"

A twitch from Kanda's fingers tells Cross he was right.

"…in between your missions we will be travelling together and you will help me with my work. Do you know what a general's work consists of?"

Of course Kanda does, having travelled with General Tiedoll, but Cross wants to get him to talk, just to annoy him more. Kanda grunts somewhat affirmatively, not raising his eyes from his tea, and Cross smiles, wickedly.

"Oh my beloved apprentice, I want to see your pretty eyes when you talk to me. Let me hear your sweet voice too, would you?"

Kanda's head shoots up, he's bright red and his eyes are flaming embers. He clenches his jaw, sure that at least half of the customers have heard Cross's plea. He fists one hand on the table, eyes fixed on the smug smile of the general and Cross leans on his elbows, his voice a sexy baritone:

"Please? My be-lo-ved?"

Hitting a general is still too much in Kanda's head, so instead he stands up abruptly, spilling the tea in the process. His hands are tight fists and he shows his teeth feeling at a loss of words before stomping out in the still cold morning.

"_I'm gonna maim him if I don't get out of here."_

Cross's crooked smile widens and he leans back on the couch, gloating that he managed to touch the right cords in Kanda at his first attempt. He hangs one elbow on the back of the couch, lazily holding a cigarette between his fingers. After breathing in the smoke he rests the hand on his crossed legs and he rectifies his previous judgment about Kanda.

"_He won't be fun. He'll be _lots_ of fun."_

But a sudden thought makes his smug smile disappear as he palms his forehead.

"Oh man… I was planning to make him pay for breakfast! I got carried away…"

---

_London_

"I can't believe it." Lavi stares off into nothing, commenting on Allen's story about _that_ night.

"Huh? But you could believe that I had raped him?!"

"Ah! No, sorry! It's… just… I… Kanda… …"

"Lavi." Allen's tone is quite threatening, even though he is injured.

"Yeah, I mean… It's not that I don't believe what you said… It's just hard to imagine a lusty… drunken Kanda that… pleads to be done!"

"Yeah, I guess…" Allen smiles sympathetically, but Lavi's curiosity is so evident in his eyes that Allen's smile turns to stone and he clarifies: "…but I won't show you."

"Damn Allen! It's a once in a life-time chance!"

"Cut it out Lavi."

"I swear I won't tell!"

"Lavi that's enough!"

"I swear! Please please, I'll beg, I'll promise anything!"

Lavi falls on his knees, his face pressed against his clenched fists as if he is praying to God and while he keeps murmuring some desperate promise, pleading as if it was a life-or-death situation, he doesn't realise someone entered the room.

"Geez Lavi, whatever you're pleading about, stop pestering Allen-kun, he's recovering."

"Ah, Lenalee!" Allen has never been so happy to see her, but a sudden fear makes him turn his gaze to petrify Lavi on the spot. _"If he says _anything_ to Lenalee I swear I'll kill him. No, I'll_ nearly_ kill him, because I'll leave to Kanda the pleasure to finish him off."_

And Lavi gets the message, but instead of fearing for his life, and completely forgetting he just swore he will keep the secret, he smirks at Allen, standing up and putting an arm around Lenalee's shoulders. Allen freezes, shocked:

"_He's not serious, is he?"_

"Say Lenalee, do you know why Yuu-chan got so angry at Allen?"

Allen is just staring in disbelief, it is his turn to be petrified. He holds his breath, unable to react, to stop Lavi, to change the subject… he just stares, waiting for the incoming blow.

Lenalee sweetly answers: "No… I… don't."

Lavi grins menacingly and Allen screams in his mind: _"No no no this isn't happening!"_

But before Lavi can open his mouth to tell her, Lenalee continues with a totally not fearsome tone: "But whenever I see him again I'm gonna smack him for sure!"

This, although it was meant to be a light joke, shakes Allen off his shock.

"Why? Is he on a mission?"

Lavi's grin stiffens instantly, and Lenalee blinks blushing surprised. She turns to look at Lavi with a look of disbelief:

"You didn't tell him?"

Lavi is fidgeting, he taps the floor behind his right boot with the tip of the other one and he holds the back of his neck with his hands while grinning guiltily. Allen's interest perks up.

"What? What didn't he tell me?"

Lavi and Lenalee ignore Allen's question, mostly because they are procrastinating to tell him, and this behaviour is the proof that something's not right with Kanda.

"I… it just didn't come up…"

"What does that mean? You should have brought it up yourself!"

"_What_ didn't come up?!" Allen insists, more worried, and his friends keep ignoring him.

"I'm sorry, Lenalee, I didn't know how to!"

"Geez Lavi, really! Sometimes you…"

"But it's your fault, you could have lied!"

"Huh?"

"You could have just answered 'yes he's on a mission'!"

"So sorry for being honest!"

"You're just too naïve."

"Lavi!"

"But that's why we all love you…"

By now though Allen's patience has disappeared completely and he's worrying so much about Kanda that his mind fears what his friends are so unwilling to say. Of course, being worried about Kanda is ridiculous, especially because Kanda usually is the one who hurts, not the one who _gets_ hurt, and in fact the one laying broken in a hospital bed it is him, not Kanda.

But he feels responsible for the situation and he doesn't know what Kanda did after that time four days before, besides being ignored by his friends has pissed him off, so he grabs his pillow and shoves it at Lavi's face, startling him.

"Don't ignore me!! What is this all about??"

Both Lenalee and Lavi fall silent and stand still, their eyes trailing off on the floor, and Allen isn't satisfied at all:

"Lavi! Lenalee! Answer me! Where's Kanda? What happened to him?"

Lavi starts with a hesitant voice: "He…"

Then he turns to look at Lenalee.

"He?" Allen prompts, impatient.

After a moment of silence in which Allen doesn't even blink so hard he's staring, and Lenalee and Lavi look at each other, suddenly the redhead lifts a yelping Lenalee and starts running towards the door, apologising to Allen repeatedly.

"He-hey!! Laviiii!! Come back here you cheater!! Lenaleeee!!"

Allen shouts at the top of his lungs, he feels frustrated and ever more worried about Kanda. When he's almost collapsing from lack of air in his lungs he stops shouting and deeply sighs: "So not fair Lavi…"

"_What could have happened to Kanda to make them so hesitant?"_

He turns his gaze out of the window and stares at the grey sky. The rain drizzles on the glass and while he wonders where Kanda might be, the Japanese is walking nervously under the same grey sky… cursing him.

* * *

**Mmm not entirely satisfied with this Lavi... what do you think?**

**And what about Cross?  
**


	13. Chapter 13

You got that right: I'm still alive! But I've started working so I'm busy most of the time, and the rest of the time I'm just dead tired!

This is the last chapter I've written yet, so the next one will take some (lots) more time to be posted, but you see this one is setting the story on START! so I hope you'll enjoy it.

Plus, lots and lots of Kanda in this one... god he's hot!

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Avignon_

"_Damn beansprout, it's all his fault. I'm stuck with the bastard and I can't even hit him!"_

Kanda is walking fast through the streets of Avignon, intentionally getting lost in the crowd, trying to put some distance between his hated boss and himself. Being with Cross is infuriating on its own, but being forced to be his apprentice is a punishment he doesn't deserve. Or so he thinks.

"_It's just too much! And it's all his fault! Damn dwarf… I hope I crippled him."_

He keeps stomping on the cobblestones, angrily splashing his boots in the occasional puddle and grumbling curses against Allen, Cross, Komui, Lavi, life and God itself. When turning the corner of a narrow alley a familiar heinous screech reaches his ears he smirks devilishly, for once glad of encountering an Akuma.

"_Poor you. You've met me in a very bad moment."_

He launches himself against the still transforming Akuma, dodging the terrified people who are running for their lives and as he runs he draws his sword, calling for his innocence in his mother-tongue.

In the meanwhile Cross is still comfortably sitting in the inn, sipping his warm wine and listening on the customers' chit-chats. He thinks this is the best way to gather information in a new city without looking suspicious. Although his mere looks definitely are: a tall gold and black-clad masked man, wearing a cowboy hat on his long red hair and occasionally showing his huge silver guns. How could he ever think of go unnoticed? In fact, this has also caused him to use his innocence's hiding powers when scouting for information, but he doesn't need to do so at the moment because the inn is filling up with travellers and merchants and he doesn't stand out too much.

So he sits back, relaxing and listening.

"… dead!"

"Oh God! Dead?!"

"Alone in her house? What happened?"

"_Mmm..."_ Cross' ears would turn towards the conversation like a cat's ones if they could.

"Listen! She was found on the stairs. One of the steps of the staircase was found smashed!"

"I heard she had a broken ankle and splinters of wood stuck…"

"_Tch, a useless incident."_

Cross turns his interest to another group of nearby people but they are talking about fat pigs and fat cows, so he stops listening to them and lights up another cigarette.

As he looks around himself to study the crowd a yelling boy storms in, shouting of monsters and a crazy swordsman trashing an alley near the castle.

"_The kid's already on a rampage, good work of stealth."_

Cross sighs but he doesn't move an inch, there's no way he will go and help Kanda.

"_If he can't handle the mess he throws himself into then he'll have to learn not to jump face first into it when he's alone."_

So he decides to stay back and observe the customers' reactions. Most of them don't believe the kid and keep eating or talking, some laugh accusing the boy of being drunker than them, some women cringe in horror and the owner shoos the boy away with an annoyed look. However, one man stands up and calmly walks to the boy, guiding him outside with an arm around his shoulders, and whispering.

"_What do you know? That Jap can be helpful in his own way afterall…"_

Cross stands up, he walks among the customers with an unconcerned attitude and peeks at the two figures moving towards the centre of the square through the window by the door.

"_Tch… I can't get close like this without them seeing me. And I can't activate Maria's innocence here."_

As he steps outside the inn the boy starts leading the older man to one of the streets departing from the fountain square and Cross slowly but carefully follows them.

The kid is excited, he gesticulates as he is walking and he's grinning happily evidently telling the story again with more, invented details, trying to impress the tall man he's with. He sometimes disappears from Cross's sight when a passerby moves in between the couple and him but his eyes aren't fixed on the kid. He stares at the back of the tall man, boring a hole into him and never loosing sight of his hunched shoulders.

Only his hooked nose is sometimes visible but although Cross hasn't seen much of him he would be able to recognise the man from his height, so out of place in such a city, his hunched shoulders and the way he holds his neck slightly forward, like a vulture.

"_And if he is what I think he is… then he really fucking is a damn vulture."_

By the time Cross already hates the guts of the man the boy starts running towards a small alley leading on the right to the huge castle impending over the rooftops, and proudly points at the rubble filling the entrance, jumping excitedly when the man gives him a shining coin.

"_Fuck! He really trashed the place… I'll need to teach that girl some moderation."_

He stops under the red sign of a fruit shop and grabs an apple, biting it without thinking, intently observing his vulture standing frowning at the entrance of the alley and kicking a small piece of brick. As the seller comes shouting out of the shop he realises he's been eating fruit for which he hasn't paid for, but most of all, that he's been eating something healthy, and he gags, desperately spitting the half-munched apple bite.

"Here," he almost whines out handing the bitten apple to the shop keeper, "it didn't taste good."

Before the stunned ruddy vendor can react to such behaviour Cross moves swiftly through the growing crowd, silently following his prey and disappears from his sight.

At the same time, a couple of streets to the right, Kanda is silently leaning against the impressive walls of the castle. Fighting the Akuma has calmed him down.

"_I needed some exercise."_

He can think more clearly now. Now that his chest isn't filled with unreleased fury, that his muscles don't twitch asking to be used and abused, in the privacy of this shadowed alley he sighs.

"_I'd better get to work."_

That's right. He cannot allow this situation to get the best of him, he can't dwell onto how much he hates it forever, he's not the type. He acts, he chops, he tramps… he doesn't reflect, and he isn't bothered by things too much.

"_Except for Lavi… he will _always_ bother me."_

He smirks at the thought and pushes himself off the wall with his shoulders.

He walks back to the alley he has fought in, looking for any evidence that might tell him who the human was.

"_Tracing back to who this person was might be useless but better than staying hands in hands chatting with the bastard."_

He faintly remembers the woman was wearing a maid's blue and white outfit, but of course that got destroyed when she turned into the Akuma. Not much remains amid the rubble, a broken milk jug and what was a basket of green apples. The basket is torn, as well as a couple of apples, but most of them have rolled around on the pavement.

Kanda picks two up and sits on top of the fallen bricks, brushing one onto his sleeve and biting into it with hardly contained hunger.

"_Mmm damn Cross… I didn't have breakfast because of him."_

"Are you eating those?"

A short kid climbs on top of the pile of rubble and greedily eyes the remaining apples scattered under the bricks. Although Kanda can't read or write French he can speak some of it, but still he doesn't answer and the kid cautiously picks one. When he understands Kanda won't hit him he starts stuffing apples in his pockets with both hands, keeping the first apple with his teeth. When for the rush of collecting as many apples as he can he trips on an unsteady brick, he unconsciously bites the apple he's holding with his teeth and it falls down, bumping on the blocks and ending its trip on top of one of Kanda's boots.

The previously unconcerned Japanese is now very annoyed, and he grabs the kid from the collar, pulling him up like a sack and shoving him away from himself.

"Get lost brat."

"I'll go away if you give me my apple back! Pierre's apples are the best in town!"

Kanda stops munching struck by intuition and the kid, as swift as a mouse, grabs the fallen bitten apple and runs away towards the crowded market road.

Kanda is left to blink the shock away with his lips parted and his eyes growing as large as the apple he's eating. But it's just a second, his mind kicks in and he frowns, pushing on his feet while still sitting, jumping off the pile and sprinting as soon as his feet touch the ground.

"_Damn brat! He knows where these apples come from! Where the hell is he gone to?"_

He's lost him, the tiny mouse sneaked through the people's legs and Kanda doesn't know whether to cut the crowd down with Mugen or…

"_The balcony!"_

He jumps grabbing the railing and pulls himself up with the sole strength of his arms. From the new point of view he searches for the kid, and what he sees is a trail of pushed people bumping onto the nearby persons, cursing and yelling at the invisible pusher.

Kanda jumps onto the next balcony, following the kid as if tracking a mole's trail of raised earth, and when the kid crouches behind a stall on the other side of the road, hiding in what he thinks a safe place, Kanda smirks enjoying it all too much.

He jumps off the balcony, earning himself the questioning looks of a couple of women, and he walks determinedly through the crowd, diagonally cutting its flow with his decisive aura and dangerous looks. People move out of his way istinctively or are pulled away by a nearby friend in a protective manner, so his path is clear and his eyes can remain fixed on his prey as he walks towards the hiding child.

He then stretches an arm behind the stall and pulls the stunned kid up, smirking and teasing him.

"You're a hundred years too young to loose me."

The kid blinks and then starts kicking, screaming, scratching and thrashing around. And Kanda holds him as far from himself as he can, as if holding a stinky pair of socks. A couple of minutes go by in which the crowd moves away from them sending concerned looks at the scene and in which Kanda grimaces at the wild little beast hanging from his hand loudly screaming his lungs out.

When the exhausted kid gasps for air Kanda coldly addresses him.

"Keep this up and I'll pull your guts out."

The kid stops moving, stops screaming, hell he looks like he has stopped breathing altogether.

"_This guy's a demon! He killed the monster and now he's going to kill me!"_

"Good boy. Now let me tell you how things will go: I put you down, you answer my question, I let you go. Anything goes differently and you see my sword up close. All clear?"

The kid nods, his wide eyes fixed on Kanda's face. The Japanese puts him down and the boy is petrified on the spot, he doesn't dare take a step because Kanda's hand is already on Mugen's hilt.

"Who sells those apples and how do I find him."

"_That's not even a question!"_ But the kid is smart enough not to say it loud, instead he answers: "Uh… Pierre, the fruit merchant. He brings in fruit from the mountains… his fruit is the best in town and it's so expensive only rich people can buy it…"

"Where. Do. I. Find. Him."

"Ah! Yes! Yes! His shop is right next to the street where you… you… killed that thing."

As Kanda turns around and walks away the kid shouts:

"It's got a big red sign!"

Kanda doesn't show any sign he's heard and keeps walking until he disappears through the crowd.

* * *

**Tell me why do you think I made the kid shout about the red sign :) Come on, Cross and Kanda's paths are entwined :D**

**And where will their independent investigations bring them?**


	14. Chapter 14

EDIT: edited some words. Just messed the time... **it's lunch time**, not dinner time! the 15th chap is well under way, lots of Kanda and Cross in that one :D

* * *

This is short, I know, and a bit useless, but I've got lots of changes going on in my life right now and it's being increasingly difficult for me to sit and write. You deserve an update so in the middle of changing job, deciding wether to move to another city or not, renewing my house, travelling and working working working... **I hereby give you:** **Allen in the process of loosing his mind.**

By the way, lots of descriptions in this chap, **experimenting as usual with my writing and my ability to induce emotions or images... please review.**

* * *

_London_

The infirmary of the Order is an oxymoron: it is an inhospitable hospital.

Its big cold rooms are pure white, lined with single beds that are either occupied by dying comrades or are silently waiting to be filled, covered with identical white sheets eager to be tainted by blood. The chequered floor of white and black marble makes the eyes spin, trying to break free of the forced perspective it imposes. It drags you into noticing the position of the furniture, following the lines and intersections until something is not parallel and you can't stop thinking about it. This devilish floor also turns the occasional heeled steps of the nurses into hollow echoes that resound in the high vaults, scaring the lights out of you.

The infirmary of the Order is a contradiction: it is a sickroom that makes you sick.

Allen watches the empty room with unfocused eyes, staring at the far wall at the back of it, an indefinite spot on the white wall next to the door. His blurred vision confuses the details, the perspective elongates itself like in tunnel-vision and the squared geometries of the floor stretch into lozenges reaching from the retreating door to his own bed, next to the wall-size windows.

He's bored to death.

That's why he calms himself by playing with his sight, unfocusing it until his eyes cross each-other and his head feels dizzy. And while he stares at the chequered floor burning the lights and darks in his retina he thinks about Kanda, and how much he needs to know what has happened to him. His friends are intentionally leaving him out and he feels helpless and aggravated by the situation. The constant tapping of the rain on the glass encloses him in a bubble of silent noise, estranging him from the world and lulling him into a semi-hypnotic state.

After hours of hypnotic suppositions about Kanda a nurse opens the door and the sudden movement and sound startle him, shaking him from his state. He blinks several times, taking a deep breath and adjusting the focus of his eyes on the approaching nurse. When he sees her carrying his lunch his face is lit by a wide grin and he starts eating with joy, for the moment forgetting about Kanda.

As the nurse walks out, Lenalee walks in. She sits on the chair next to Allen's bed, smiling warmly at the boy devouring his food and openly laughs when he tries to greet her while still munching.

"Febloh, Bledalee!"

"Hello to you too Allen, but finish that up before talking, I don't want you to choke on that meat!"

Allen nods and stuffs his mouth with a potato, happy that his tooth isn't sore anymore. He was definitely tired of liquid food. After a while, when he finally lies back on the pillow, satisfied and with his belly full, he purrs and turns his head towards Lenalee, with his usual smile hovering on his lips.

"I'm glad you're back. I was getting bored here all on my own."

"I'm sorry I'm late, but brother has kept me busy all morning."

"Don't be sorry, I'm glad you're here now."

Lenalee shows her sweet smile, but it's tinged by sadness, maybe regret. And Allen's food-induced wellness evaporates in an instant, making him suddenly aware of "the" topic, the avoided unavoidable one: Kanda.

So he becomes serious, a bit edgy too, and sitting up on the mattress he takes Lenalee's hands in his trying to make eye contact with her.

"Oh Allen, I'm so sorry!"

"Sorry… about what, Lenalee?" He's impatient now, the same thing is happening again, his friend talking without saying anything precise.

"I didn't know you… didn't know."

Oh God, not another ballet around the news.

"Lenalee I don't want to do this again. Tell me what I don't know and then we'll chat about how sorry you are."

Lenalee is shocked. She has never heard Allen being this rude to anyone, and she never thought he would ever talk like this to her. She doesn't even feel like scolding him.

Allen realises how hard he has sound and he looses his impatience, squeezing Lenalee's hands and composing himself once more.

"Ok, sorry Lenalee. I'm just very worried about all that has happened while I was unconscious and the way you and Lavi acted… it all sounds very serious! Please tell me the truth, I can't wait anymore." _It's torture!_

"Well, the thing is Kanda... was punished."

"How?"

"He will have to travel with… a general, for the time being."

"I see. It doesn't sound that bad though." Allen feels relieved, and a little confused too. "What was all the commotion about then?"

Lenalee hesitates, but Allen squeezes her hands again and she continues.

"He's been degraded to apprentice."

"Oh." _This sounds bad._

"And, the general he's travelling with is… Cross."

"Oh." Allen blinks stunned, nearly speechless, and when his mind immediately puts all the pieces together, showing him an image of Kanda forced to travel with Cross and be his slave, understanding hits him. His eyes threaten to pop out but he can't find anything coherent to say so he just repeats the same syllable again, but with panic showing on his face.

"Oh. OH!" _Oh God!_

Lenalee changes her position until she is holding Allen's hand in hers and tries to calm him down, failing.

"Allen, it's ok Allen! Kanda is strong, don't worry!"

But Allen isn't listening, his vision is blurred by memories of the tortures he had to endure because of Cross and thinking about Kanda being in his place is like imagining the Apocalypse!

_Oh my God, oh my God! They're going to kill each other!_

"Allen look at me!" Lenalee reaches for Allen's cheek and turns his face towards her but his eyes are blank with shock and his skin is paler than usual. "That's why I didn't want you to know!"

The boy is thinking about how furious Kanda is going to be, and how much Cross will enjoy it. And how Cross will keep pushing and pushing until Kanda will snap and slice him!

"_If I knew Kanda was going to be sent to him I would have told him about the ways to survive Cross! Oh God one of them is not going to come back alive!"_

As Lenalee is thinking whether to shower Allen with some water he snaps out of his trance and announces:

"I've got to go save them!"

And she surprises herself with a very unlady-like shout:

"Whaaaaaat?"

It's as if he's only now realising about her presence and he blinks, nodding and looking at her with a mixture of surprise and determination. Lenalee is sure he's got something wrong in his head, but she's too nice to say it, so she turns to:

"You can't be serious! You're still in a hospital bed! You're still broken all over!"

And so Allen realises he is in no condition to stand in between Cross and Kanda to stop them from killing each other and he once again abuses the innocent syllable, at loss for something more intelligent to say:

"Oh. Right."

Lenalee sighs relieved, but Allen doesn't give her the chance to think he's changed idea and concludes:

"I'll go as soon as I'm fit. Go tell your brother I need a boost here."

"You… would accept my brother's therapies?" Terror on Lenalee's face.

"I, uhm, well…"

"You need to rest, you are not thinking straight at all." She stands up, threatening him with her serious look and her hands on her hips, and her suggestion sounds more like an order. But Allen is unfazed, he just thinks that she doesn't know.

_She can't know, that's why she's so calm! She has no idea!_

"Allen Walker! Don't give me that look! I'll make sure you are chained to this bed by the hour if you don't immediately discard that idea of yours!"

And he nods, an angelic expression of remorse fooling her while secretely planning to escape the Tower for the first time since he had set foot in there.

* * *

I swear I wasn't planning for Allen to click, but it sorta came out on its own... damn, this plot is complicating itself even more! Without my permission! Well I hope this will keep your interest alive until next chap.


	15. Chapter 15

**Edit 18 April 2009 - spoiler for dgm manga ch.185.** I just read it, this can't be happening. I mean, I was jumping, laughing and shouting "I knew it!" when Marie told Allen that the reason why he and Kanda always fight is because they are too similar (drooling at the moment). And then... what THE HELL does "sacrifices are necessary" have to do with Kanda???? I SWEAR IF KANDA DIES I WILL STOP READING DGM AND WRITING FANFICS. Since I'm pretty shocked at the moment... I want to talk to someone about this! PM me! Email me! I can give you my msn account! **End edit/spoiler**

- - -

When I was unemployed I had lots of time to write but I would feel guilty for not contributing to my family's living expences. Now that I work I feel guilty because I don't have any free time anymore and it takes for ever to update my stories. Heck, do I have to feel guilty in any case?!

Anyway, I'm glad you all wait for this, I just finished the chapter so there might be some mistakes but I couldn't keep you waiting any longer, could I?

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Avignon_

The market is busy as a hive, everywhere Kanda looks is a wall of heads, shoulders, and chests, swaying, bumping, proceeding. But he's not looking for someone anymore, he has a destination in mind, the fruit shop, and that's where he's headed, walking a straight line through the crowd. The red sign of the shop marks the horizon on the sea of people and his gaze intensifies with every step he takes until it becomes a full power glare. A group of guards is gathered at the entrance of the alley where he had fought the Akuma but he walks past ignoring them and walks straight to the owner of the shop.

The vendor is wearing an apron, red as the tent and sign above the outside stalls of fruit, making him look round and red like a redcurrant. His beardless cheeks are starting to fall heavily below the jaw line and his double chin looks like it's sprouting a third one.

Kanda walks up to him while he is captivating the gaze of a young lady sitting in a carriage with his fresh strawberries, and without ceremonies stands in front of him, blocking his sight of the carriage and towering on him with his posture more than his height.

The man angrily manhandles Kanda, trying to move him aside and then furiously looks at him when he hears the carriage resuming its journey. But his angry look turns to a worried one as soon as he gets a sight of the man he has tried to shove away.

The twitch from Kanda's jaw muscles is visible through the fair skin on his cheek and he grits his teeth in a barely suppressed violent urge. His eyes are daggers pointed at the older man's pupils and it is just an instant before the vendor's attitude changes completely:

"I'm truly sorry, Sir, for the extremely rude way I dared touch you. I inexcusably mistook you for someone else. How could the humble me serve you today?"

Kanda's smirk is evil, he hates ass-kissers: "Cut the crap old man."

He looks around with a frown on his face and then slowly stretches one hand towards a pyramid of green apples, intentionally taking one of the bottom ones and making the bunch fall inordinately into the nearby baskets of oranges and lemons. The vendor is fuming, twitching for the effort of not reacting but when Kanda bites the apple he's taken he bursts:

"What's with you people today? Why don't all of you leave my apples alone for Christ's sake?"

Kanda slowly turns to look at the trembling man and almost spells out: "All of us?"

The vendor falls for the bait, his anger makes him talk freely answering Kanda's questions easily.

"That red-haired, four-eyes bastard did the same thing! He even said these apples taste bad! How dare he?! Not _my_ apples!"

Kanda's look shifts to a knowing expression:

"Black robes, black hat and a mask on his right eye…"

The vendor explodes: "Yes! Yes that's him!"

"Yeah, ok. Now tell me about those who bought them."

"Oh don't get me started! That stupid maid who got killed over there! She had a basket full of my apples and now kids and mice are eating them! What a waste! She paid for them but if she was going to get herself killed she shouldn't have bought them at all!"

Kanda isn't surprised by the lack of humanity shown by the owner, actually it is a confirmation of his feelings towards the man and more of a reason not to act gently towards him.

"What family did she work for?"

"Why would I know it?"

Kanda takes his sheathed sword out of his belt and under the questioning look of the owner he pins it under the basket containing the precious strawberries, holding his hand lightly on the hilt jutting as a lever. He then tilts his head slightly to the right, looking at the vendor and asking in an rumbling tone:

"Really?"

As he speaks he lightly presses down on the hilt, making the tip of the sword push the basket upwards until some of the top strawberries start rolling down. The vendor looks on the verge of a heart attack and more confused than before.

"Uh, I know, I know! It's…. uh I don't remember… Ah! No! No! Watch out! Those strawberries come from Nantes!"

"I would remember the name of the family faster then."

A couple of strawberries tumble on the floor, Kanda rotates his foot to crush one under the tip of his boot and while doing so he never takes his eyes off the vendor's face. He feels more like a thug than an Exorcist but he doesn't think the man deserves any gentle treatment at all. Not that the maid was a human anymore, but this doesn't justify the greedy attitude of the man who considered his apples more important than a life.

Even in this moment Kanda can see that the man is calculating the cost of that basket of strawberries, and for this he is sweating. Kanda smiles and the owner blanches.

"Saint Ange! That's the name! Saint Ange!"

Kanda straightens himself up, a satisfied smirk on his lips:

"Where do they live?"

"The outskirts of town, on the road to Fontaine-de-Vaucluse."

He retrieves his sword from under the basket and turns away, walking towards the street. As the vendor exhales a breath of relief in seeing the Japanese walking away, Kanda unsheathes Mugen and with one fluid circular motion cuts the ropes holding the tent above the fruit. He's already a few steps away with Mugen safely back under his coat when the red tent heavily falls down on the owner and the baskets, covering everything with a soft FWOMP!

The surprised sounds fade in the distance as he keeps walking away, contrary to the flow of people and guards who are running towards the shop out of curiosity.

As he eats two delicious strawberries he had hidden in his sleeve he smiles, thinking that the ladies will freak out taking the crushed berries for blood pulp. A sweet tooth can be quite gruesome if the owner is a killer swordsman.

---

A red drop of juice flows out of the corner of Kanda's mouth as he bites down on the fruit and at the same time on the outskirts of town something slips through Cross's lips too, however it is a colourful stream of curses, for his right foot is sinking in a bubbling puddle of mud.

He has followed the hunched man for more than two hours now and the only information he has gathered is that he's called Van Aalten and that he has settled the bill for the hotel room he has stayed in, paying an extra tip to have his luggage kept there until he will be back with a carriage to leave the city.

_He's in a hurry but if he's not leaving right away there must be something more important to do before that._

It was pretty easy to follow Van Aalten while in town because the man was lost in his thoughts and didn't pay attention to his surroundings, but now that they have gone through the city door and the roads are less crowded Cross needs to be more careful. Van Aalten walks fast, his long legs bend at the knee like a stork's, and the General decides to hitch a ride from a cart lead by a silent, wrinkled man. A sign reads that there will be a crossroads a couple of kilometres ahead and he is impatient to see if Van Aalten turns in one of the side streets. The roads are of beaten hearth and the tracks left by carriage wheels become puddles of lime and mud that splash when the cart wheels pass them bumping a little.

As the General offers a cigarette to the old man, he smokes his own, keeping an eye on Van Aalten but observing the countryside with a yawn and a very clear need in his guts.

_Mmm… wine..._

The Alps in the distance are topped by white caps of snow but the vineyards on the right side of the road are heavy with grapes and warm in the sunlight, a green horizon lit by the glint of the river. On the left side of the road sparse groups of trees dot the plain and they become more frequent in the distance as they climb the sides of the hills dressing them with a thick, dark forest. After some time country houses appear in some of the fields or behind some screens of planted trees and as Cross wonders whether Van Aalten is heading towards one of them the man is already turning right at the crossroad, walking briskly along a hedge.

Cross waits until the cart he has been hitching a ride on crosses the junction and hops down protected by the hedge. He silently touches the rim of his hat as a goodbye and the old man waves his wrinkled hand once, shifting the cigarette from one corner of his mouth to the other with his tongue. They haven't made eye contact once, nor shared any words, but the old man got a cigarette, and Cross got a ride.

When Cross reaches the junction again he peeks around the corner and the fact that Van Aalten is nowhere in sight doesn't faze him at all. There is only one gate in sight near enough for Van Aalten to have reached it in the time it took the General to go back to the side street, so he calmly walks up to it.

The house is barely visible through the thick hedge but the iron gate is big and elaborate enough to suggest the owner is a wealthy man. The more he gets closer to the gate, the more he can hear a bustling sound coming from the house and when he gets to see through the bars of the gate the wide area in front of the house appears full of maids and various servants busy with boxes, flowers, linens and chairs, tables and dozens of glasses and cutlery.

As a servant in white walks towards him he spots Van Aalten in a corner of the garden, surrounded by flowers, talking heatedly to a man. He spits the cigarette bud and he fakes a smile to the boy.

"Father?"

"Well, yes." _You can say that…_

"Good day to you Father, the ceremony will be held this evening as planned, we were not expecting you this early so we are still in the middle of preparations!"

"I know son, don't worry, I don't mind."

"Then please come in Father, let me call for Madame."

As the boy opens the gate, Cross peeks at the family crest on one of the brick columns holding the gate and he reads:

_Saint Ange._

_

* * *

_**Thug Kanda and sly Cross!**I enjoyed writing this chap, I hope you enjoyed reading it :D

Allen and Lavi in the next one! (at least I think)_  
_


	16. Chapter 16

I've written this in two days, which is pretty fast for me, especially after months of break. If I keep it I might change it a bit for the better, make it longer and find out some mistakes but I want you to read it since you've been waiting long enough. Furthermore, I'll be going to Paris for a week from Saturday, I'll gather some infos for future chapters :) Anyone of you there? Let's meet up!

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_London_

_"How am I going to get to Kanda and Cross?"_

Allen is standing in front of the window, the pain he feels when laying on the bed is sometimes unbearable. Komui has told him that his fractures will take a month to heal completely but while his ribs will stop hurting in 15 days, his shoulder will be useless for the whole time.

He can't stay in bed too much though because even breathing becomes difficult after he lays on his ribs for a while, so he worries that he won't be able to reach his friend and master before one of them kills the other.

He stares at the dark swelling clouds thinking, the forest slowly becoming invisible under the heavy downpour. It's been 4 days since the fight so he figures he will have to wait at least one more week before his chest will stop hurting enough for him to sneak away and it will still mean travelling with a fractured shoulder.

He sighs, things don't look too good, and he's not good at waiting either.

---

_Avignon_

On the contrary the afternoon in Avignon is warm and sunny, the chilly air of the morning is soon forgotten. Kanda follows the directions given by the fruit merchant, walking towards the road to Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, only to find out he has no clue where Maison Saint Ange may be as soon as he exits the city doors.

He's not one to ask for directions though, it would be humiliating and it would entail some undesired contact with people. So no, he keeps walking straight out into the countryside, afterall there's just one road and it keeps going in a straight line for a while at least. He'll figure out how to find Maison Saint Ange on the way.

The sight of the sunbathed vineyards that has relaxed Cross some hours before does nothing to better Kanda's mood. There's too much sun, the sky is too blue, the river is too sparkly and the people, well, there's too many of them to begin with.

There's something that catches Kanda's attention though: a wide cart overflowing with white tulips. They are alive plants, not cut flowers. Bulbs in bloom, or almost blooming, planted either in pots stacked on the sides of the wagon or on the floor of the cart, which is covered by a wide thick layer of brown soil.

_"There must be at least 120 tulips in there."_

The wagon is lead by a boy and a blond lady who seems to be cursing the sky, or the sun, because she is speaking angrily in some foreign language and at the same time she's gesturing towards the sky. She takes her hat off to point it at the sky, and at the same time she gestures towards the tulips, fanning herself with the frilly hat. She then slaps her hat on her knees with a determined look and she points her finger at the young driver, undoubtedly giving him an order. Soon after the boy next to her drives the cart to a stop on the side of the road and they start to mount a structure on top of the vehicle which, Kanda guesses, they will cover with the white cloth they have pulled out of a big box.

It isn't easy to mount those poles without stepping on the plants and the work is going to take a bit of time. The lady looks nervous and she keeps talking to herself in that guttural language that Kanda doesn't understand, but while he is walking past the cart the boy decides it's time to speak, and he does so in French:

"Don't worry for the heat Mrs. Van Aalten, we have almost arrived, Maison Saint Ange is that brick building on the right."

Kanda, who isn't at all interested in the fate of those tulips nor in that of the boy, who is currently being shout at in that terrible language by Mrs. Van Aalten, walks past them, smirking satisfied and headed towards Maison Saint Ange.

Only the roof of the house is visible behind the tall hedge and Kanda can see that under the shiny ivy the roof is made of red tiles. There are two big chimneys, one on the right side of the house, probably above a big fireplace in a seemingly big kitchen, and one in the middle of the roof, probably corresponding to a living room.

_"It looks like the maids live in the left part of the house, behind that row of small square windows right below the roof. The room below them, the one with the flowery balcony and the pink curtains, must be either the lady's or her daughter's. I can't see the lord's room; it must be facing the other side of the house._

_How typical! The lord will want to wake up and look at his estate from his bedroom. His study must also be facing the vineyards behind the house."_

A good fighter must understand his fighting grounds before rushing in, and Kanda is a hell of a good fighter! It has taken him a mere look at the house to understand how it is divided.

While he is thinking about where to sneak in the estate from, a big explosion makes the ground shake and a storm of birds fly away shrieking from the trees around the house. He starts running straight towards house, the plan to hide himself now useless.

He turns the corner of the street running and he is met by a flow of maids and servants escaping out of the gate shouting and crying. He doesn't have to wait long to see a skinny Akuma floating in the front yard and rising above the hedge line. What surprises him is that the Akuma explodes right away.

_"Is there another exorcist? Oh. Oh fuck. Don't tell me..."_

He slows down before the gate, he peeks in with his sword already unsheathed and he announces:

"... the drunkard is here."

Cross is standing tall in the middle of a blown up mess of tables, tablecloths and chairs, his guns fuming in his hands and a cigarette fuming in his grinning mouth. He turns around and his grin widens madly:

"Oh my cute lil' girl has finally arrived! You are late, Princess! You've let me have all the fun here alone! There's no more Akuma for you, you can put that pocket knife away."

Kanda's grip on Mugen tightens, and through his gritting teeth he murmurs: "Innocence, activate!"

* * *

**Will Kanda slash Cross?**


	17. Chapter 17

**Re-posting this chapter because I realized all of the previous ones were present tense while this one was all past tense. It made no sense. So anyway, the same chap as before, just changed the verb tense.**

17 - Preys

_Avignon_

Nina Saint Ange storms into her chambers, banging the door shut behind her. She rushes through the small ante-room, moving quickly amid the delicate tea-tables and armchairs, unaware of the china and ornaments tumbling down on the carpets because of her flurry skirts. She then enters her bedroom and hurries to the farthest corner, hiding behind the folding dressing screen. She slides down the wall pulling her knees towards her and hugs her legs, as if to disappear. She just barely registers the sharp pain in her shin, consequence of her earlier tripping on her skirt while fleeing up the stairs. Now, Nina is breathing very hard, her heartbeat pounding loudly in her ears and anguish showing without refrain on her young features.

_"Maman! Maman!"_

She hears more booms and crashes in the front yard and winces, burrowing her head between her knees and wrapping her arms around her head in a protective manner. She is weeping terrified and confused: it was supposed to be _her_ day! A happy day, a grand party for her Confirmation, hundreds of flowers all over the house and garden and a crown of pretty flowers in her hair! She would have been beautiful in her white new dress, Thierry would have looked at her and her only, and Lorraine would have cried of jealousy!

How did it end like this? Her father is dead now, killed by some hideous murderer monster who had started blowing up the house, her garden and her life! She feels like it is a terrible nightmare, and she wishes for someone to come and wake her up. She wishes for it to be her mother, although she knows this is impossible because her beloved mother has died some months ago. She has now lost her father as well and in a delirious state of pain and fear she keeps calling to her dead mother.

She hears a click coming from her ante-chamber and her heart jumps in her chest; she holds her breath trying to sharpen all her senses until her head feels like exploding. Then, she exhales as silently as she can, peeking through the carvings on the side of the mahogany screen.

Her eyes widen when the person calmly came in. She feels oddly trapped.

In the meanwhile Kanda is advancing in the front yard, rage boiling in his veins. He doesn't want to snap and attack Cross because it means loosing all he has and all he is. But that damn geezer sure knows how to pull his strings.

For his part Cross isn't at all fazed by Kanda activating his innocence because although the Japanese is a powerful exorcist he still is no match for the General, so he watches the boy with a mildly amused look on his face. It is a chance to get to know him more, and see if he really is the hot-tempered person he has heard of.

_"He'll have to learn how to control himself."_

What he sees, it makes him smirk.

Kanda advances, Mugen shimmering in the sunlight, and his eyes fixed dangerously on the General. Then his step falters ever so slightly and he frowns, as if thinking hard. He slows down and comes to a halt a few meters away from Cross, changing his hold on the sword, clearly taking time. He is fighting so hard his urge to attack, still his gritting teeth show he is on the brink of loosing it.

_"He's almost cute."_

The shadow of a smile tugs at Cross' lips and Kanda's fury scream.

_"He's laughing at me!"_

His body wants to jump at him, but his feet are glued to the ground and his legs feel so heavy he doesn't move. It is his last connection to sanity, his body refusing to give in to his folly. At the back of his mind there is a feeling, not a voice, not words... just a sensation, that keeps him from playing into Cross' hands. Although his pride is searing inside him and burning his guts, it would be equally humiliating to let Cross get to him. Kanda is torn, and his fingers keep clenching and unclenching Mugen's hilt.

The air stills in the little time Cross' and Kanda's eyes lock, the noise dulls and the world around them pales. But in the bubble that contains the two men a noise enters, other than the wind caressing the trees and the birds chirping, that makes it burst and causes the two men to wake from their silent concentration: a clatter of silver cutlery and broken glass.

Kanda snaps like a bow, turning instantly towards the sound and pointing Mugen towards its source. Cross' grin grows madly, his prey is trying to run away, the kid has to wait.

Inside the house, Nina stares as the impossibly round man lightly tip toes in her room, floating on top of a crystal perfume bottle and standing there without breaking it, showing his sharp teeth in a terrifying smile. He wears colorful clothes, large trousers that don't knock any of her ceramic dolls off the shelves, a tall hat that grazes the ceiling and holds a puffy umbrella with a pumpkin decorating the handle. He raises his free hand and places it in front of his face, covering his eyes. Then with a high-pitched voice he murmures "Niiiina! Come out, come out wherever you are!". It should be a funny image capable of cheering her up, but instead she feels a chill running down her spine and the crazy aura around the nightmarish person scares her to the point that her painful desire to see her mother grows to a desperate silent scream in her head.

It is as if she has screamed aloud. Peeking through his fingers, that murderous clown turns his head towards the corner she is hiding in, his already impossible smile grows even wider and he graciously jumps from the bottle, landing right in front of the dressing screen. All Nina can see through the carvings in the wood is the striped fabric of the man's trousers. He is so close, as if she has called him, somehow. She shuts her eyes, trying to be as silent as she can, and she keeps praying to her mother to come save her. If she had her eyes open she would see a bloody eye looking at her through a hole in the wood, but she isn't looking, and the Earl calls slowly at her: "Found you."

In the garden Kanda watches the tall wiry man who has tripped on one of the tables in his attempt to sneak away, turn to a sickly grey and visibly shrink as Cross walks over to him with a stern expression. If he were someone who knew pity, like Allen, he'd empathize with the terrified man, and he would actually make a huge mistake in doing it, so, lucky him, his complete lack of empathy for once helps him. He puts his sword away and watches unaffected as the General pushes the man down on a chair, not violently but definitely threateningly.

The man is feeling sick, he starts stammering something he hopes sounds like a credible story, the reason for which he is there: dutch flowers for the young lady's Confirmation. Cross is smoking in silence, expressionless. After repeating his story twice the man falls silent, troubled by Cross' inactivity. Then, some painful minutes after, the General finishes his cigarette, he puts it out, takes his gun out and calmly points it at the weeping man's front.

Kanda crosses his arms, bored.

The man closes his eyes, paralyzed.

Cross speaks his question, slowly:

"Who's your contact?"

"Co-contact?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Van Aalten. How do you contact the Earl?"

"I - I don't."

"Really." Sarcasm.

"Really!" Desperate hope.

Cross feels like killing the pig, but he needs the information. He hears Kanda shift his weight from one foot to the other and decides to let him in. He turns around to the Japanese and tells him:

"Come here, kid. I want you to meet someone."

Kanda glares at him, but walks forward.

"Candy, meet Van Aalten. Van Aalten, meet Candy."

"Uhm... a pleasure... to meet you... uhm... Candy."

Cross laughs his stomach out, Kanda is floored.

"Are you an idiot? I'm gonna rip your guts out if you ever call me _that_ again!"

Van Aalten is scared stiff by Kanda's outburst, he doesn't really get the joke. Cross is ever more amused. But Kanda turns to him:

"And I mean _you_ too!"

"Oh! Oh! Sorry kid, it was just too good to miss!"

"Tsk! What the hell do you want with me here anyway?"

Cross' laugh fades slowly, it takes too much time for it to look real and Kanda feels he is being made fun of again. He grits his teeth and thinks about how red would Cross' blood be. When finally Cross is able to speak again, he has a serious look on his face that makes Kanda pause. Cross' words, then, make the target of his fury change:

"Our new friend Van Aalten, here, is one of the Earl's brokers."


	18. Chapter 18

**I know it's really really short but I just wanted to post something after almost a year of nothing. Since I know you probably have forgotten here's the story so far:  
**

**Allen bets with Lavi that he can make kanda moan, so he cooks a chocolate dessert for him and invites him to his room. Things get out of hand and they end up having sex with Kanda as uke. The morning after Kanda almost maims Allen and gets punished: he's sent travelling with Cross degraded as apprentice. While Allen is in hospital planning to escape and go save them, Cross and Kanda are in France, following the traces of a dutch broker named Van Aalten to the house of the Saint Ange in Avignon. Kanda and Cross are in the blown up garden with the broker, the Earl is in the young lady's room, Nina, who's lost her mother at a very young age and was supposed to have a party for her Confirmation today.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Avignon_

"Found you."

The Earl towers over Nina and she squeals like a trapped mouse.

"Are you scared?"

He reaches out with his puffy hand and tips her chin upwards. She's crying, her cheeks wet with tears and her eyes shut.

"Don't be. I'm here to help you."

Nina doesn't want him to help her, it's not _him_ she wants. She burrows her chin in her arms again, trying to remember her mother's face, her mother's voice.

"I know you miss your mother, Nina. Wouldn't you like to meet her?"

His voice is sweet and Nina is pulled into the conversation, she falls for his trap and she answers through her arms:

"I can't. She's in Heaven now."

"Nina... what if I could help you meet her? Just for a moment. Isn't this what you've wanted for so long? And now that your father's gone too, don't you want to stay in your mother's arms for a while?"

Nina is torn. She has asked these questions to her house Priest and he has told her that once someone goes to Heaven they watch over you as guardian angels and you can't touch them, nor see them, but they are always with you. She knows she can't touch her mother again, but if this clown can really do the trick, if he really can let them meet again once more, even for just a moment, would it be so bad?

The Earl feels Nina's emotions twirl, he only needs to give a little push:

"Just the time of a hug."

A hug. Her mother's warmth, her mother's perfume. The pain Nina feels at the thought is as big as the hope the Earl is giving her. She raises her eyes, meeting the Earl's; she dries her tears from her cheeks with the back of her hands and says:

"Can you really?"

And he smiles, a terrifying smile of pointed teeth.

"Really."

_Kids are too easy._

"Come with me Nina. Let's go meet your mum."

Nina stands up, takes the Earl's hand and walks out of her room.

"Let's go to the living room, there's enough room there for your big, big hug."

.

Meanwhile Cross looks as Kanda realizes the Van Aalten is a broker. It's no time to joke now.

"Have you ever met a broker, Kanda?"

"Once."

"What happened to him?"

"She died."

"Oh, it was a lady. That's rare."

"She was a nun."

"A nun! Damn, we can't even trust each others these days."

Van Aalten follows their exchange petrified. He feels Kanda's eyes stuck on to him, all the while he spoke with Cross they never moved. Cross, instead, looks at Kanda.

"So, she died, uh? Was it _you_ who killed her?"

"No."

"Mmm. Would you like to kill a broker?"

"Yes."

Van Aalten shifts on his seat wimpering. Cross turns to him and says flatly, almost amused: "He wants to kill you."

Van Aalten whines again, Kanda's eyes glint and his foot inches forward, scraping on the gravel. Cross says: "Shall I let him?"

"No! No! Please! I'll tell you what you want to know! Please don't let him kill me! Please!"

Cross snorts and slaps Van Aalten on the back: "Good boy! That's what I wanted to hear!" He laughs putting away his gun and Van Aalten feels a ray of hope shining on to him. He chuckles hesitantly and looks at Kanda gaining a bit a self composure. However, Kanda isn't laughing, he isn't even smiling. He's still staring at him with the same steel expression, and Van Aalten's chuckle dies in his throat together with his newly found hope.

Cross grabs a chair from under a table and sits in front of the broker. Kanda stands exactly where he was. Ready to kill. The General crosses his legs, lits another cigarette, blows a puff of smoke into the silent air and starts:

"Who's your contact?"

"A little girl. A scary little girl."

A puff of smoke. _Road._

"How do you call her?"

"I don't. I mean! I can't! She comes to me when she needs something."

Another puff of smoke.

"Why are you here?"

"She came to me months ago, she said a lady had died and her daughter was going to have a party for her Confirmation. I sell flowers, you know, tulips, so I was supposed to come here with my wife and prepare her."

"Prepare her for what?"

Suddenly, while Cross is trying to squeeze information out of the broker, Kanda remembers the wagon with the tulips and the Dutch lady and turns just in time to see her standing at the gate, half transformed into an Akuma already.

Her left arm is now a huge metal flower and as she opens her fingers the flower blooms, opening its petals and showing the hidden cannon's mouth.

"Your wife, I presume."

Kanda curses as he draws his sword but Cross doesn't flinch, he just grabs Van Aalten by the collar and walks towards the house. In doing so he commands:

"Yo kid, meet us in the living room when you're done playing. We grown-ups will be having a nice little chat."

"Tch."

* * *

**the living room's goona be crowded, uh?**


	19. Chapter 19

_Avignon_

Cross drags Van Aalten across the front yard, walking briskly among the upside down tables and chairs, kicking them out of the way and stepping on the pearly white linens without ceremony. The sound of his boots on the gravel is covered by the first explosion of Kanda's fight but he doesn't turn around to look until he gets to the door. There, he pushes the frightened Van Aalten inside and while doing so he glances at Kanda dodging a second bullet and jumping behind the large tree shading the yard.

Van Aalten's wife is now completely transformed in a snake Akuma and fires bullets with her tulip-like arms. The broker looks at her with wide eyes through the glass door and keeps straightening his collar with his trembling hands. Some people try to be strong by fixing their appearance, as if the external normal composure could seep inside and help them feel less scared. So he unconsciously keeps patting down his collar which Cross had creased dragging him through the courtyard, but it doesn't help. His wife is an Akuma! She's got a tail, two enormous tulips in place of her arms and she's fighting an Exorcist. His wife, strong-willed and easily angered, but human and loving with her flowers, that woman is now an Akuma. When he became the Earl's broker he didn't know what he was getting into. He was greedy and wanted to become the biggest tulip merchant in Europe and when the Earl approached him he didn't think about the consequences. And now his wife is an Akuma and her _tail_ is striking chairs, pots and tables sending them flying at Kanda behind the tree.

The Japanese looks stuck, he's got all kinds of furniture flying at him and bullets shot twice as fast from both sides, pebbles and gravel become sharp projectiles at each tail strike, ricocheting all around him, breaking glasses and plates and sending shards flying everywhere. Cross watches the scene from the doorstep:

_"It's just one Level 2, but it's a hell of a busy one! Oh well..."_

The General shrugs his shoulders and shuts the door. Kanda is too busy to see Cross close the door on him but he wouldn't want his help anyway. He knows the Akuma will not have any more furniture around soon so she'll have to move closer if she wants to keep using that tail of hers. Even after the fight between Cross and the first Akuma the area left of the gate remained clear of debris so Kanda knows the Akuma will move right, towards the centre of the yard, where the tables for the party were being prepared and where she can find new stuff to throw at him.

"Exorcist! Stop hiding! Come out and play with me!"

"Come and get me then!"

Kanda tenses his muscles, and as soon as he hears the Akuma slide noisily on the gravel towards his right he runs out of his hiding spot, cutting her way to the centre of the yard and activates his First Illusion.

"Kaichu! Ichigen!"

The swarm of Hell Insects quickly attacks the Akuma with a roar and the explosion envelops the Akuma in a cloud of dust.

Cross hears the boom from inside the house but the delicious smell coming from the kitchen distracts him and makes him detour from his plan of sitting in the living room. He enters the kitchen and the dishes ready for the party catch his attention: lamb stew with potatoes; lentils cream with crunchy bread; fresh salad of tomatoes, olives and oregano; fois gras on warm bread; roast pork and a dozen types of cheese. Not to mention the bowls of fresh cream and the trays of biscuits ready as dessert. But it's the huge wine barrel standing proud in a corner that almost moves him to tears.

He grabs the biggest glass he sees and opens the tap at the bottom of the barrel.

As soon as the liquid splashes in the glass he smiles, deeply satisfied: "Red."

Van Aalten isn't following, he looks around the kitchen with a closed stomach and actually feels like throwing up a little. Automatically, he asks: "What's red?"

"The wine, idiot."

"Oh. I don't like wine."

If Cross despised him as a broker, he now fully hates him.

"You don't like wine? Who doesn't like wine? We're in the country of wine and you don't like wine!"

He takes his gun out again, this is unacceptable.

"Wine is life, wine is the sweetest moment of the day, wine never betrays you! Wine... wine is wine!"

"Please, stop saying wine."

Cross gulps down his glass but immediately regrets it, this is not how you drink wine.

"Don't tell me what to say, broker. Don't forget who you're talking to."

He points his gun at the Dutch and when Van Aalten mumbles a sorry he puts it back. He fills his glass again, then on second thought he fills a whole jug and thrusts it into Van Aalten's hands and finally, with his glass in one hand and a sandwich of roast pork and cheese in the other, he exits the kitchen, determined to find the living room and a comfortable chair. He kicks Van Aalten on his butt and tells him to lead the way, but not to spill a single drop of "wine... wine... wine". Cross knows how to be annoying and enjoy it.

Nina, instead, isn't enjoying herself much at all. All the explosions and crashes make her flinch and jump on her seat but it's the scene in front of her eyes the scariest thing she's seen today. A huge skeleton stands in her living room, attached to a sort of grid and with no hands nor feet. The clown is telling her something about her mother's soul, she just needs to call her name and she'll come back and become flesh using the skeleton as a body. And then her mother will have a body again, and...

"She will hug you for as long as you wish. You can trust me. Call her name. Call her name, Nina."

The Earl isn't deaf. He knows there must be an Exorcist outside who's fighting his Akumas. He knows it is dangerous to do the reincarnation here in the house and that it would be safer to bring Nina in his dimension through the Ark, but sometimes you have to seize the opportunity and if you delay then it is lost. Those booms are scaring Nina more, and this helps his plan. She just needs a little push, she just needs to be a little more desperate, a little more frightened. His teeth grow longer, his eyes turn evil, his voice becomes a growl and he moves menacingly towards the girl, scaring the life out of her:

"Call her name, Nina! Do it NOW!"

He shouts the last word and she screams, she screams her mother's name:

"Marguerite!"

As Nina falls on her knees sobbing, the Earl bursts into a cheery laugh, he hears the distant explosions but he isn't concerned with them, it is too late, they are so far away from there!

CRASH!

Except... this one. This one crashing sound of glass. This is too close. This is _in_ the room. As he turns around towards the sound he hears a known voice exclaim:

"Noooo! The wine, you idiot!"

And he sees him... them: his moron broker with his eyes popping out of his head in surprise, standing with his hands in mid-air as if holding something and a pool of glass and red wine at his feet, and behind him, just entering the room:

"Cross. Marian."

The Earl couldn't be less happy.

It takes a second for Cross, who's staring at the pool of wine wishing it to be Van Aalten's blood instead, to raise his eyes and understand what's going on.

Nina, kneeling and crying on the carpet at the feet of a skeleton, Marguerite's soul appearing in the room, the Earl swinging his umbrella with a happy smile.

_"I have to destroy that skeleton before that soul enters it._"

Marguerite's soul starts screaming in pain, chains appear tying her to the skeleton and letter by letter her name is branded on the skull's forehead.

M A...

Cross lets go of his sandwich and before it touches the floor he already has his hand on his gun's hilt.

_"Before it's too late."_

M A R G...

The Earl opens Lero and stands under it, spinning on one foot and holding the other arm and leg straight, he chants: "Marguerite! Marguerite! Come to me, quick!"

M A R G U E...

Nina has curled herself up in a ball and cries, apologizing to her mother for what she's done. Van Aalten falls on the floor, his hands on his ears, just in time to cover them from the blast.

M A R G U E R I... BLAM!

Cross's bullet cracks the skull open, releasing Marguerite from the chains.

In the peaceful silence that ensues, Nina stops crying and raises her eyes as her mother's soul, now free, shines in the light for a moment and disappears.

Needless to say, the Earl is pretty pissed off.


	20. 20 Stage set

**news: I'm adding titles to chapters now. I will add them to previous chapters as soon as I can.**

**Enjoy!  
**

20 - Stage set

_Avignon_

Kanda straightens his uniform, patting it down to dust it off. Killing the Akuma wasn't difficult, just very time consuming. She blocked the first swarm of insects crossing her arms in front of her and lost one cannon in doing so, but even with just one arm left that damned tail forced Kanda to keep moving around dodging the flying objects. There were too many things in the garden that could be used as projectiles and each tail strike would send cutlery, glass shards and pebbles flying in an unpredictable manner. Kanda was fast at dodging and cutting down everything that managed to get to him but this only added to the number of tiny sharp things flying around. Some of them actually cut him, although of course it didn't take long for him to heal.

Until Kanda got bored of the fight, it remained a distant range battle, however as soon as he unleashed his Second Illusion, Nigentou, and his twin swords appeared, he launched himself in a close range fight.

The Akuma shot Kanda point blank but he stood out of range of the tulip sliding below the cannon. As he was on the floor the snake tried to whip him with its tail but he rolled sideways and slashed the tip of the tail cutting it off. The Akuma screamed its rage and pain and slammed the rest of its body repeatedly on the floor to crush Kanda but the Japanese rolled sideways until he was out of reach and immediately stood up and ducked to dodge an incoming bullet. He sprinted forward, sinking the tip of his boots in the gravel with each step, parring another bullet with an oblique slash of Mugen and using the momentum of the slash to jump spinning in the air and cut the Akuma's head with the other sword. His pirouette was elegant and essential but fast as an ice skater's and the Akuma could barely follow him with his eyes as he spinned high once and sliced its neck. He then landed kneeling, giving his back to the exploding Akuma and sealing Mugen's illusion in the scabbard.

Now, with the Akuma still burning, he dusts off his uniform, ready to join the General in the living room. Not that he looks forward to it, but he doesn't want to be left out of the broker's interrogation.

He enters the house from the same side door that Cross and Van Aalten have used, and finds himself in a long corridor with stone walls, two doors on each side and one at the end. Kanda ignores the first room on the left, he's seen the room from the windows while approaching the door and it's just a small reading parlor full of lavender pots on the windows and rattan chairs. Probably the lady's afternoon living room. He walks forward, passing the door on the right which leads to the kitchen.

He glances inside and feels the hunger of a long day in which he's just eaten a bite of a cheese baguette, two apples and a couple of strawberries. He stands on the doorstep for a moment, pondering whether to eat something or not and then comes in, disgusted by the French dishes but conquered by his physical needs. He glances around in order to choose something less meaty, less fatty, less rich than... all the dishes there and thinks:

_"This place looks like one of Moyashi's dreams."_

And then, predictably, feels angry at himself for having thought of Allen.

_"Why would I think of him of all people?"_

He walks around the table, looking at the dishes without touching anything and imagines Allen stuffing the roast pork, potatoes and bread in his mouth. It's disgusting. Then he thinks about Lavi jumping on the cheese plate, and Lenalee dipping the biscuits in the cream. But most of all, he thinks of Allen. Not in a sweet way, just as a researcher would watch a hyena eat a dead zebra. It's just a moment, but he indulges in it. Depicting Allen as an ugly animal makes him feel better. He walks to the lentils cream, eating it would mean sitting down and wasting some time but it's the one thing out of all that food that he wouldn't mind eating.

The sound of shattering glass shakes him from his thoughts. He raises his head trying to understand the direction of the sound and the gunshot that follows makes him rush out of the kitchen and run to the end of the corridor, passing the two other rooms opening on it. With the corner of his eyes he notes the study on the left and the dining room on the right but he doesn't stop, they are both empty. The corridor leads to the entrance hall of the house: on the left the main entrance and a second door to the studio, a stone staircase in front of him and on his right, beyond the dining room door, another door, framing Cross' figure.

Kanda can't see inside the room, Cross's stupid hat blocks the whole view but he's already holding Mugen in a defense position.

_"If Cross had to shoot then it can't be something small."_

He walks slowly, there's no point in charging in if he doesn't knows what expects him there. Moreover, Cross is still on the doorstep so it would mean trampling on him.

_"Well, that would be an idea..."_

He smirks at the thought but still walks silently past the dining room, standing next to the door to the studio, trying to catch the conversation.

Cross feels Kanda's presence besides him and oddly feels reassured. A little.

The last shine of Marguerite's soul has just disappeared and the Earl stares into nothing for a moment, without moving. Cross waits for what's coming. And what comes is the Earl snorting, almost amused.

"Cross! You always manage to get on my nerves! Have you any idea of how long it took me to prepare the setting for tonight? Eh, right! And you ruin it all so easily!"

He pauses and then his tone changes to a low rumbling voice: "It makes me so angry."

However, Marian doesn't show any fear of the Earl.

"Oh so sorry old man, I didn't mean to, I just happened to be here!"

Which isn't totally true, Cross has been tracing Van Aalten's steps through Europe for months now. But it is in Cross' genes the need to piss everyone off more.

Kanda understands by this exchange who's the enemy they are up against this time and, contrary to his desire to rush in, he stands still: a surprise attack might be the only way to win this battle.

The Earl shows his teeth, he knows the General too well to believe him and in doing so he taps Lero on the floor, opening a gate of his Ark. A black hole appears under him and he gently floats over it, his toes pointing down. At the sight Nina crawls backwards to the wall, falling into a cathatonic state.

Cross tries to keep him in the studio, there's so much he needs to know:

"Oh so you're running away? I didn't think you were so scared of me."

The Earl looks at him angrily and says:

"I am not, I'm just letting someone else make you pay. Your presence has given me a headache."

He massages the line of his eyebrows with the tip of his fat fingers and almost whines:

"Come on Road, please!"

And from inside the hole a tiny voice answers:

"Oh Earl, Cross is so boring!"

"Pretty please?"

Cross and Kanda follow this exchange with surprise, although neither of them is happy with how things are turning out. Road is a tough opponent.

Then suddenly Van Aalten, who had been kneeling on the floor, almost forgotten, crawls quickly to the centre of the room and with his shaking voice squeaks out towards the hole:

"M-miss Road?"

After a moment of silence in which everyone stares at the man, Road slowly answers from the depth of the gate:

"Yes?"

He smiles, relived by the recognition granted to him: "It's me, your humble servant, Van Aalten, the flower merchant."

Road realizes the man is waiting for a sign to go on and repeats: "Yes?"

"Please let me go! My wife...I... Please, let me go back home."

Cross doesn't wait for Road's answer:

"Hey, it is I who can let you go, you are my prisoner now!"

Van Aalten cringes at the words and quickly whispers:

"Miss Road, please! I have done everything you asked of me."

Slowly, in the odd silence following Van Aalten's XXpleaXX, a messy mass of curly black hair appears over the edge of the hole as Road floats up in the room.

She's lazily sucking on a big lollipop, her feet crossed and her hands on her waist. Her eyes fixed on Van Aalten, she doesn't even acknowledge Cross' presence. From her hight she looks down on the flower merchant, bent on his four and with his face pressed on the carpet. Her face doesn't show any emotion, probably because she doesn't feel any for the merchant. After a moment she takes the lollipop out of her mouth, resting her elbow on her side and holding it lazily sideways.

"You failed."

It isn't an accusation, just a fact.

"Why should I save you?"

Van Aalten doesn't know what to say, he just sobs once desperately.

With his back to the wall, Kanda is tense beyond the door, the situation looks eerily calm but it could as easily turn into a battle.

The Earl floats over to a mobile and sits on top of it, apparently too occupied with his headache than anything else. Cross shifts his weight on his left foot and lights a cigarette with his left hand, the gun in his right resting down his side. He doesn't want Van Aalten to die so he's ready to defend him but not for any philanthropic feeling, he only needs all the information Van Aalten can give him.

The movement catches Road's attention and she turns her eyes to him as if she's finally ready to deal with him, unwillingly. She puts the lollipop back in her mouth with a pretty movement of her wrist and stares at Cross, as if thinking about what to do with him.

Cross slowly smokes his cigarette, watching her through the twirling smoke.

Immobile, silent, apparently uncaring, they both look at each other for some time, one smoking, the other sucking on the sweet. Van Aalten raises his eyes from the ground, confused by the silence and he sees the two of them studying each other, as two felines facing each other, motionless and uninterested but actually really tense and ready to spring. Van Aalten, kneeling between the two, feels he's in a very dangerous position and decides it is safer to silently crawl next to Nina. The two fighters keep looking at each other, ignoring the man.

Beyond the door Kanda doesn't know how to interpret this silence. He can't move yet but at one point he sees Cross tightening his hold on his gun and he does the same on Mugen, preparing himself.

**- two more chapters are ready, I'm waiting because this story grows on its own: where the hell has road come from? I didn't mean for her to be in Avignon. So to avoid any weirdness in the story I'm writing some chapters before posting the following two. Let me know what to think of how things are turning out. :)**


End file.
